Issuing remote commands to tracking devices

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving, by a tracking system server, an instruction from relating to a feature of a second computing device. The method includes, in response to receiving a notification that a third computing device has received a tracking signal from the second computing device, transmitting an instruction for the second computing device relating to the feature to the third computing device. The method includes receiving a response message indicating that the second computing device has not received the instruction for the second computing device and transmitting a request to retransmit the instruction to the second computing device. The method includes receiving a response message from the third computing device indicating that the second computing device has acknowledged the instruction and transmitting a response message to the first computing device indicating that the second computing device has acknowledged the instruction.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/912,492, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,470,447, which isa continuation-in-part under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/515,523, filed 18 Jul. 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,223,927,which is a continuation under 35 U.S.C. § 120 of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/862,491, filed 4 Jan. 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,405,144,each of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to tracking devices, and morespecifically, to restricting the functionality of a tracking device or adevice connected to or integrated with the tracking device when thetracking device is lost.

BACKGROUND

Electronic tracking devices have created numerous ways for people totrack the locations of people and/or objects. For example, a user canuse GPS technology to track a device remotely or determine a location ofthe user. In another example, a user can attach a tracking device to animportant object, such as keys or a wallet, and use the features of thetracking device to more quickly locate the object, (e.g., if it becomeslost). If the object is lost, the object will still be able to function;for example, if a user loses a set of headphones or another type ofelectronic device, a person who comes across the lost headphones orsteals the headphones could use them. If the object were disabled, thismay help discourage theft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example tracking system environment in which atracking device can operate, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example tracking system for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example user mobile device for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example community mobile device for use in atracking system environment, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example tracking device for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an environment for disabling a feature of a trackingdevice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram illustrating a process for disabling afeature of a tracking device based on an instruction from a mobiledevice, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an interaction diagram illustrating a process for disabling afeature of a tracking device based on instructions stored on thetracking device, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a process for disabling a feature ofa tracking device, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 . illustrates an environment for providing remote instructionsto a tracking device.

FIG. 11 is an interaction diagram illustrating a process for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an interaction diagram illustrating a process for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a process for remotely performing acommand on a tracking device based on an instruction from a usercomputing device that may be performed by a tracking system server,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating a process for remotely performing acommand on a tracking device based on an instruction from a usercomputing device that may be performed by a computing device, accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating a process for remotely performing acommand on a tracking device based on an instruction from a usercomputing device that may be performed by a tracking system server,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating a process for remotely performing acommand on a tracking device based on an instruction from a usercomputing device that may be performed by a computing device, accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a process for remotely performing acommand on a tracking device based on an instruction from a usercomputing device that may be performed by a tracking device, accordingto one embodiment.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Environment Overview

Embodiments described herein detail functionality associated with atracking device. A user can attach a tracking device to or enclose thetracking device within an object, such as a wallet, keys, a car, a bike,a pet, or any other object that the user wants to track. Or, a trackingdevice can be a device with a primary purpose unrelated to trackingfunctionality (e.g., a set of headphones, an electronic key, a wirelessspeaker, a fitness tracker, a camera, a laptop computer, a portablecomputing device) that has an integrated tracking component that allowsthe device to be tracked. The user can then use a mobile device (e.g.,by way of a software application installed on the mobile device) orother computing device or service to track the tracking device. Forexample, the computing device can perform a local search for a trackingdevice by sending a beacon signal out seeking a connection with thetracking device. However, in situations where the user is unable tolocate the tracking device using their own computing device (e.g., ifthe tracking device is beyond a distance within which the computingdevice and the tracking device can communicate), the user can leveragethe capabilities of a community of users of a tracking device system. Insuch situations, the user may designate the tracking device as “lost”and request that some functionality of the tracking device be disabledor may provide some other instructions for the functionality of thetracking device. For example, if the tracking device has a trackingcomponent and a different primary device function (e.g., playing soundif the tracking device is a wireless speaker), the primary devicefunction can be disabled to render the tracking device unusable to apotential thief. While this primary function is disabled, the trackingcomponent can remain enabled, allowing the user to locate the losttracking device. As another example, the user can provide instructionsfor the primary device function (e.g., playing a loud tone if thetracking device is included in a wireless speaker, restricting access tothe device until a specific code is entered, deleting some or all datastored by the tracking device). As another example, if the trackingdevice is attached to another object, the user can disable the trackingdevice to prevent a potential thief from taking the tracking device andrepurposing it (e.g., to track an object owned by the thief, or to sellto another potential user interested in tracking an object).

A tracking system (also referred to herein as a “cloud server,”“tracking server,” “tracking system server,” or simply “server”) canmaintain user profiles associated with a plurality of users of thetracking system. The tracking system can associate each user within thesystem with one or more tracking devices associated with the user (e.g.,tracking devices that the user has purchased and is using to trackobjects owned by the user, or devices that include a tracking componentand have additional non-tracking features). If the user's trackingdevice, or the object to which the tracking device is attached, becomeslost or stolen, the user can send an indication that the tracking deviceis lost to the tracking system, which is in communication with one ormore computing devices associated with the community of users incommunication with the tracking system. The tracking system can set aparticular status for the tracking device in a database of the trackingsystem. For example, the tracking system can set a flag indicating thetracking device is lost. When one mobile device of a community of mobiledevices (also referred to herein as a “community mobile device” or“community computing device”) that are scanning for nearby trackingdevices and providing updated locations to the tracking systemidentifies a flagged tracking device, the tracking system can associatethe received location with the flagged tracking device, and relay thelocation to a user of the tracking device, thereby enabling the user tolocate the lost tracking device. In addition, the tracking system cantransmit an instruction to the community mobile device to forward to thetracking device. For example, the tracking system can send aninstruction that will cause the tracking device to disable one or morefeatures. This will limit the usefulness of the tracking device toanother person if the tracking device has been stolen or is at risk ofbeing stolen. As used herein, “mobile device” can refer to a phone,tablet computer, or other connected device, and can also refer tosystems typically not consider mobile, such as servers, routers,gateways, access points, and specialized systems configured to couple totracking devices and report a location of the tracking devices.

As used herein, “tracking device” can refer to any device configured tocommunicate with another device for the purpose of locating the trackingdevice. Tracking devices can be specialized or single-purpose devices(e.g., self-contained devices that include circuitry or components tocommunicate with another device). However, “tracking device” as usedherein can also refer to device or object with a different primaryfunction but with secondary tracking device functionality. For example,a wireless speaker can include tracking device components that allow auser to track and/or locate the wireless speaker. As another example, alaptop computing device can include tracking device components. In someembodiments, a tracking device platform can be established such thatdevices and objects that satisfy one or more criteria can act astracking devices within a tracking device ecosystem. For instance, atracking device provider can provide an SDK or custom chipset that, whenincorporated into an object or device, enable the object or device tofunction as tracking devices, to communicate with other devices withinthe tracking device ecosystem, and to implement the functionalitiesdescribed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example tracking system environment in which atracking device can operate, according to one embodiment. Theenvironment of FIG. 1 includes a tracking system 100 communicativelycoupled to a mobile device 102 associated with the user 103 via a firstnetwork 108. The tracking system 100 is also communicatively coupled toa plurality of community mobile devices 104 a through 104 n(collectively referred to herein as “community mobile devices 104”)associated with a plurality of users 105 a through 105 n of the trackingsystem 100 (collectively referred to herein as “community users 105”)via the first network 108. As will be explained in more detail below,the tracking system 100 can allow the user 103 to manage, control,and/or locate a tracking device 106 associated with the user 103. Insome embodiments, the tracking system 100 leverages the capabilities ofcommunity mobile devices 104 to locate the tracking device 106 if thelocation of the tracking device is unknown to the user 103 and beyondthe capabilities of mobile device 102 to track. In some configurations,the user 103 may own and register multiple tracking devices 106.Although FIG. 1 illustrates a particular arrangement of the trackingsystem 100, mobile device 102, community mobile devices 104, andtracking device 106, various additional arrangements are possible.

In some configurations, the user 103 may be part of the community ofusers 105. Further, one or more users 105 may own and register one ormore tracking devices 106. Thus, any one of the users within thecommunity of users 105 can communicate with tracking system 100 andleverage the capabilities of the community of users 105 in addition tothe user 103 to locate a tracking device 106 that has been lost.

The tracking system 100, mobile device 102, and plurality of communitymobile devices 104 may communicate using any communication platforms andtechnologies suitable for transporting data and/or communicationsignals, including known communication technologies, devices, media, andprotocols supportive of remote data communications.

In certain embodiments, the tracking system 100, mobile device 102, andcommunity mobile devices 104 may communicate via a first network 108,which may include one or more networks, including, but not limited to,wireless networks (e.g., wireless communication networks), mobiletelephone networks (e.g., cellular telephone networks), closedcommunication networks, open communication networks, satellite networks,navigation networks, broadband networks, narrowband networks, theInternet, local area networks, and any other networks capable ofcarrying data and/or communications signals between the tracking system100, mobile device 102, and community mobile devices 104. The mobiledevice 102 and community of mobile devices 104 may also be incommunication with a tracking device 106 via a second network 110. Thesecond network 110 may be a similar or different type of network as thefirst network 108. In some embodiments, the second network 110 comprisesa wireless network with a limited communication range including, but notlimited to, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), near-fieldcommunication (NFC), Z-Wave, ZigBee, Ultra-wide Band (UWB). In someconfigurations, the second network 110 is a point-to-point networkincluding the tracking device 106 and one or more mobile devices thatfall within a proximity of the tracking device 106 sufficient to supportcommunication between the tracking device 106 and one or more mobiledevices. In such embodiments, the mobile device 102 and community mobiledevices 104 may only be able to communicate with the tracking device 106if they are within a close proximity to the tracking device, though inother embodiments, the tracking device can use long-distancecommunication functionality (for instance, a GSM transceiver) tocommunicate with either a mobile device 102/104 or the tracking system100 at any distance. In some configurations, the mobile device 102 andone or more community mobile devices 104 may each be associated withmultiple tracking devices associated with various users.

As mentioned above, FIG. 1 illustrates the mobile device 102 associatedwith the user 103. The mobile device 102 can be configured to performone or more functions described herein with respect to locating trackingdevices (e.g., tracking device 106). For example, the mobile device 102can receive input from the user 103 representative of information aboutthe user 103 and information about a tracking device 106. The mobiledevice 102 may then provide the received user information, trackingdevice information, and/or information about the mobile device 102 tothe tracking system 100. Accordingly, the tracking system 100 is able toassociate the mobile device 102, the user 103, and/or the trackingdevice 106 with one another. In some embodiments, the mobile device 102can communicate with the tracking device 106 and provide informationregarding the location of the tracking device to the user 103. Forexample, the mobile device 102 can detect a communication signal fromthe tracking device 106 (e.g., by way of second network 110) as well asa strength of the communication signal or other measure of proximity todetermine an approximate distance between the mobile device 102 and thetracking device 106. As another example, the mobile device 102 canutilize features support by the communication protocol used to detectthe communication signal from the tracking device 106 to determine amore precise location and orientation of the tracking device 106 to themobile device 102. The mobile device 102 can then provide thisinformation to the user 103 (e.g., by way of one or more graphical userinterfaces) to assist the user 103 to locate the tracking device 106.Accordingly, the user 103 can use the mobile device 102 to track andlocate the tracking device 106 and a corresponding object associatedwith the tracking device 106. If the mobile device 102 is located beyondthe immediate range of communication with the tracking device 106 (e.g.,beyond the second network 110), the mobile device 102 can be configuredto send an indication that a tracking device 106 is lost (from theperspective of the mobile device 102) to the tracking system 100,requesting assistance in finding the tracking device. The mobile device102 can send an indication of a lost device in response to a commandfrom the user 103. For example, once the user 103 has determined thatthe tracking device 106 is lost, the user can provide user input to themobile device 102 (e.g., by way of a graphical user interface),requesting that the mobile device 102 send an indication that thetracking device 106 is lost to the tracking system 100. The mobiledevice 102 can send an indication of a lost device automatically basedon determination that the tracking device 106 is outside ofcommunication range of the mobile device 106. For example, if the mobiledevice 102 has not received a communication signal or beacon from thetracking device 106 for a period of time satisfying a threshold periodof time, the mobile device 102 may determine that the tracking device106 may be lost. In some examples, the lost indication can includeinformation identifying the user 103 (e.g., name, username,authentication information), information associated with the mobiledevice 102 (e.g., a mobile phone number), information associated withthe tracking device (e.g., a unique tracking device identifier), or alocation of the user (e.g., a GPS location of the mobile device 102 atthe time the request is sent). In some embodiments, the lost indicationcan include an instruction relating to a feature of the tracking device,such as to disable a feature of the tracking device, as described indetail with respect to FIGS. 6-9 or to provide other instructions to thetracking device, as described in detail with respect to FIGS. 10-17 .

The tracking system 100 can be configured to provide a number offeatures and services associated with the tracking and management of aplurality of tracking devices and/or users associated with the trackingdevices. For example, the tracking system 100 can manage informationand/or user profiles associated with user 103 and community users 105.In particular, the tracking system 100 can manage information associatedwith the tracking device 106 and/or other tracking devices associatedwith the user 103 and/or the community users 105.

As mentioned above, the tracking system 100 can receive an indicationthat the tracking device 106 is lost from the mobile device 102. Thetracking system 100 can also receive any other instruction from the user103. The tracking system 100 can then process the indication orinstruction in order to help the user 103 find the tracking device 106and deliver any instructions. For example, the tracking system 100 canleverage the capabilities of the community mobile devices 104 to helpfind the tracking device 106 and deliver commands. In particular, thetracking system 100 may set a flag for a tracking device 106 to indicatethat the tracking device 106 lost and monitor communications receivedfrom the community mobile devices 104 indicating the location of one ormore tracking devices 106 within proximity of the community mobiledevices 104. The tracking system 100 can determine whether a specificlocation is associated with the lost tracking device 106 and provide anylocation updates associated with the tracking device 106 to the mobiledevice 102. In one example, the tracking system may receive constantupdates of tracking device 106 locations regardless of whether atracking device 106 is lost and provide a most recent updated locationof the tracking device 106 in response to receiving an indication thatthe tracking device 106 is lost.

In some configurations, the tracking system 100 can send a locationrequest associated with the tracking device 106 to each of the communitymobile devices 104. The location request can include any instructionsand/or information necessary for the community mobile devices 106 tofind and identify the tracking device 102. For example, the locationrequest can include a unique identifier associated with the trackingdevice 106 that can be used by the community mobile devices 104 toidentify the tracking device 106. Accordingly, if one of the communitymobile devices 104 detects a communication from the tracking device 106(e.g., if the community mobile device 104 is within range or moveswithin range of the communication capabilities of the tracking device106 and receives a signal from the tracking device 106 including orassociated with the unique identifier associated with the trackingdevice 106), the community mobile device 104 can inform the trackingsystem 100. Using the information received from the community mobiledevices 104, the tracking system 100 can inform the user (e.g., by wayof the mobile device 102) of a last known or potential location of thetracking device 106.

As shown in FIG. 1 and as mentioned above, the tracking system 100 cancommunicate with a plurality of community mobile devices 104 associatedwith corresponding community users 105. For example, an implementationmay include a first community mobile device 104 a associated with afirst community user 105 a, a second community mobile device 104 bassociated with a second community user 105 b, and additionalcommunication mobile devices associated with additional community usersup to an nth community mobile device 104 n associated with an nthcommunity user 105 n. The community mobile devices 104 may also includefunctionality that enables each community mobile device 104 to identifya tracking device 106 within a proximity of the community mobile device104. In one example, a first community mobile device 104 a withinproximity of a tracking device 106 can communicate with the trackingdevice 106, identify the tracking device 106 (e.g., using a uniqueidentifier associated with the tracking device 106), and/or detect alocation associated with the tracking device 106 (e.g., a location ofthe first mobile community device 104 a at the time of the communicationwith the tracking device 106, a location of the tracking device 106relative to the first mobile computing device 104 a at the time of thecommunication with the tracking device 106, a location of the trackingdevice 106 at the time of the communication with the tracking device106). This information can be used to provide updated locations and/orrespond to a location request from the tracking system 100 regarding thetracking device 106. In some embodiments, the steps performed by thefirst community mobile device 104 a can be hidden from the firstcommunity user 105 a. Accordingly, the first community mobile device 104a can assist in locating the tracking device 106 without notifying thefirst community user 105 a—potentially bothering the first communityuser 105 a by interrupting them—and without the knowledge of the firstcommunity user 105 a.

As mentioned above, the tracking system 100 can assist a user 103 inlocating a tracking device 106. The tracking device may be a chip, tile,tag, or other device for housing circuitry and that may be attached toor enclosed within an object such as a wallet, keys, purse, car, mobiledevice, laptop, wireless speaker, headphones, or other object that theuser 103 may track. Additionally, the tracking device 106 may include aspeaker for emitting a sound and/or a transmitter for broadcasting abeacon (also referred to herein as a “beacon signal”). In oneconfiguration, the tracking device 106 may periodically transmit abeacon signal that may be detected using a nearby mobile device 102and/or community mobile device 104. In some configurations, the trackingdevice 106 broadcasts a beacon at regular intervals (e.g., one secondintervals) that may be detected from a nearby mobile device (e.g.,community mobile device 104). The strength of the signal emitted fromthe tracking device 106 may be used to determine a degree of proximityto the mobile device 102 or community mobile device 104 that detects thesignal. For example, a higher strength signal would indicate a closerproximity between the tracking device 106 and the mobile device 102 anda lower strength signal would indicate a more remote proximity betweenthe tracking device 106 and the mobile device 102, though in someembodiments, the tracking device 106 can intentionally vary thetransmission strength of the beacon signal. The power and direction ofthe signal emitted from the tracking device 106 may be used to determinean approximate location of the tracking device 106 relative to thereceiving device. In some cases, the strength of signal or absence of asignal may be used to indicate that a tracking device 106 is lost.

System Overview

FIG. 2 illustrates an example tracking system for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment. As shown, the trackingsystem 100 may include, but is not limited to, an association manager204, a tracking device location manager 206, and a data manager 208,each of which may be in communication with one another using anysuitable communication technologies. It will be recognized that althoughmanagers 204-208 are shown to be separate in FIG. 2 , any of themanagers 204-208 may be combined into fewer managers, such as into asingle manager, or divided into more managers as may serve a particularembodiment.

The association manager 204 may be configured to receive, transmit,obtain, and/or update information about a user 103 and/or informationabout one or more specific tracking devices (e.g., tracking device 106).In some configurations, the association manager 204 may associateinformation associated with a user 103 with information associated witha tracking device 106. For example, user information and trackinginformation may be obtained by way of a mobile device 102 (or any othercomputing device), and the association manager 204 may be used to linkthe user information and tracking information. The association betweenuser 103 and tracking device 106 may be used for authenticationpurposes, or for storing user information, tracking device information,permissions, or other information about a user 103 and/or trackingdevice 106 in a database for easy reference by the tracking system oranother component requiring such information.

The tracking system 100 also includes a tracking device location manager206. The tracking device location manager 206 may receive and process acommand from a mobile device (e.g., mobile device 102 or communitymobile devices 104). The command may include an instruction for atracking device 106 or an indication that the tracking device 106 islost. For example, the tracking system 100 may receive a lost indicationfrom a mobile device 102 indicating that the tracking device 106 islost. The tracking device location manager 206 may set a status or flagin a database (e.g., tracker database 212) indicating that the trackingdevice 106 is lost. The tracking device location manager 206 may alsoquery a database to determine tracking information corresponding to theassociated user 103 and/or tracking device 106. The tracking system 100may obtain tracking device information and provide the tracking deviceinformation or other information associated with the tracking device 106to a plurality of community mobile devices 104 to be on alert for thelost or unavailable tracking device 106.

The tracking device location manager 206 may also receive a locationfrom one or more community mobile devices 104 that detect the trackingdevice 106, for instance in response to the community mobile devicereceiving a beacon signal transmitted by the tracking device 106,without the tracking device 106 having been previously marked as lost.In such embodiments, a user corresponding to the mobile device 102 canrequest a most recent location associated with the tracking device fromthe tracking system 100, and the location manager 206 can provide thelocation received from the community mobile device for display by themobile device 102. In some embodiments, the location manager 206provides the location of the tracking device 106 received from acommunity mobile device either automatically (for instance if thetracking device 106 is marked as lost) or at the request of a user ofthe mobile device 102 (for instance, via an application on the mobiledevice 102). The location manager 206 can provide a location of atracking device 106 to a mobile device 102 via a text message, pushnotification, application notification, automated voice message, or anyother suitable form of communication.

The tracking device location manager 206 may further manage providingindications about whether a tracking device 106 is lost or not lost. Forexample, as discussed above, the tracking device location manager 206may provide a location request to the community of mobile devices 104indicating that a tracking device 106 is lost. Additionally, uponlocation of the tracking device 106 by the user 103 or by one of thecommunity of users 105, the tracking device location manager 206 mayprovide an indication to the user 103, community user 105, or trackingsystem 100 that the tracking device 106 has been found, thus removingany status or flags associated with a tracking device and/or cancelingany location request previously provided to the community of users 105.For example, where a user 103 sends an indication that the trackingdevice 106 is lost to the tracking system 100 and later finds thetracking device 106, the mobile device 102 may provide an indication tothe tracking system 100 that the tracking device 106 has been found. Inresponse, the tracking device location manager 206 may remove a flagindicating that the tracking device 106 is lost and/or provide anupdated indication to the community of users 105 that the trackingdevice 106 has been found, thus canceling any instructions associatedwith the previously provided location request. In some configurations,the notification that the tracking device 106 has been found may beprovided automatically upon the mobile device 102 detecting the trackingdevice 106 within a proximity of the mobile device 102. Alternatively,the notification that the tracking device 106 has been found may beprovided by the user 103 via user input on the mobile device 102. Inanother example, a known user (e.g., a friend or family member) withwhom the tracking device 106 has been shared may provide an indicationthat the tracking device 106 has been found.

In some embodiments, the tracking device location manager 206 alsoreceives and processes instructions relating to one or more features ofa tracking device 106. A lost indication from a mobile device 102indicating that the tracking device 106 is lost may be accompanied by aninstruction to disable one or more features of the tracking device 106.The feature(s) to disable may be included in the instruction, or thetracking system 100 or tracking device 106 may store informationindicating which feature(s) to disable in response to a disableinstruction. Instructions relating to a feature of a tracking device 106may also be sent outside of the context of a lost indication. In otherembodiments, when the tracking device location manager 206 receives alost indication for a tracking device, the tracking device locationmanager 206 may look up instructions associated with the tracking device106, e.g., in the data manger 208, and forwards appropriate instructionsfor selected feature of the tracking device 106. Disabling features oflost tracking devices is described further with reference to FIGS. 6through 9 . Providing instructions to tracking devices, including losttracking device, is describe further with reference to FIGS. 10-17 .

The tracking system 100 additionally includes a data manager 208. Thedata manager 208 may store and manage information associated with users,mobile devices, tracking devices, permissions, location requests, andother data that may be stored and/or maintained in a database related toperforming location services of tracking devices. As shown, the datamanager 208 may include, but is not limited to, a user database 210, atracker database 212, permissions data 214, and location request data216. It will be recognized that although databases and data within thedata manager 208 are shown to be separate in FIG. 2 , any of the userdatabase 210, tracker database 212, permissions data 214, and locationrequest data 216 may be combined in a single database or manager ordivided into more databases or managers as may serve a particularembodiment.

The data manager 208 may include the user database 210. The userdatabase 210 may be used to store data related to various users. Forexample, the user database 210 may include data about the user 103 aswell as data about each user 105 in a community of users 105. Thecommunity of users 105 may include any user that has provided userinformation to the tracking system 100 via a mobile device 102, 104 orother electronic device. The user information may be associated with oneor more respective tracking devices 106 or may be stored without anassociation to a particular tracking device. For example, a communityuser 105 may provide user information and permit performance of trackingand management functions on the community mobile device 104 withoutowning or being associated with a tracking device 106. The user database210 may also include information about one or more mobile devices orother electronic devices associated with a particular user.

The data manager 208 may also include a tracker database 212. Thetracker database 212 may be used to store data related to trackingdevices. For example, the tracker database 212 may include tracking datafor any tracking device 106 that has been registered with the trackingsystem 100. Tracking data may include unique tracker identifications(IDs) associated with individual tracking devices 106. Tracker IDs maybe associated with a respective user 103. Tracker IDs may also beassociated with multiple users. Additionally, the tracker database 212may include any flags or other indications associated with whether aspecific tracking device 106 has been indicated as lost or is associatedwith a pending instruction, and whether any incoming communications withregard to that tracking device 106 should be processed based on thepresence of a flag associated with the tracking device 106. The trackerdatabase 212 may also include feature information about tracking devices106, whether one or more features of a tracking device 106 areassociated with a pending instruction, whether one or more features of atracking device 106 should be disabled when lost, and whether one ormore features of a tracking device 106 are currently disabled or havebeen instructed to be disabled.

The data manager 208 may further include permissions data 214 andlocation request data 216. Permissions data 214 may include levels ofpermissions associated with a particular user 103 and/or tracking device106. For example, permissions data 214 may include additional users thathave been indicated as sharing a tracking device 106, or who have beengiven permission to locate, manage, or receive a location of a trackingdevice 106. Location request data 216 may include information related toa location request or a lost indication received from the user 103 via amobile device 102.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example user mobile device for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment. As shown, the mobiledevice 102 may include, but is not limited to, a user interface manager302, a location request manager 304, a database manager 306, and atracking manager 308, each of which may be in communication with oneanother using any suitable communication technologies. It will berecognized that although managers 302-308 are shown to be separate inFIG. 3 , any of the managers 302-308 may be combined into fewermanagers, such as into a single manager, or divided into more managersas may serve a particular embodiment.

As will be explained in more detail below, the mobile device 102includes the user interface manager 302. The user interface manager 302may facilitate providing the user 103 access to data on a trackingsystem 100 and/or providing data to the tracking system 100 through oneor more interactive user interface elements. Further, the user interfacemanager 302 provides a user interface by which the user 103 maycommunicate with tracking system 100 and/or tracking device 106 viamobile device 102.

The mobile device 102 may also include a location request manager 304.The location request manager 304 may receive and process a request inputto the mobile device 102 to send an indication that a tracking device106 is lost to a tracking system 100 or to send an instruction to thetracking device 106 through the tracking system 100. For example, theuser 103 may provide an indication that a tracking device 106 is lost,unreachable, or otherwise unavailable, and/or that one or more featuresof the tracking device 106 should be disabled, from the mobile device102 via the user interface manager 302, and the location request manager304 may process the lost indication and/or instructions and provide anynecessary data to the tracking system 100 for processing and relaying alocation request and/or disabling instruction to other users 105 over anetwork 108. In some configurations, an indication that a trackingdevice 106 is lost is provided via user input received via userinteraction with one or more interactive elements of a user interface.Alternatively, the indication may be transmitted automatically inresponse to the mobile device 102 determining that a tracking device 106is lost.

In addition, the location request manager 304 can request a location ofthe tracking device 106 without the tracking device 106 being identifiedas lost. For instance, a user can access a tracking device locationfeature of an application running on the mobile device 102 (for example,via the user interface manager 302), and the location request manager304 can request a most recent location of the tracking device 106 fromthe tracking system 100. The location request manager 304 can receivethe most recent location from the tracking system 100 and can displaythe most recent location via the user interface manager 302.

The mobile device 102 may also include a database manager 306. Thedatabase manager 306 may maintain data related to the user 103, trackingdevice 106, permissions, or other data that may be used for locating atracking device 106, managing a tracking device 106, and/or providing arequest to a tracking system 100 for locating one or more trackingdevices 106 associated with the user 103. Further, the database manager306 may maintain any information that may be accessed using any othermanager on the mobile device 102.

The mobile device 102 may further include a tracking manager 308. Thetracking manager 308 may include a tracking application (e.g., asoftware application associated with the tracking system) forcommunicating with and locating a tracking device 106 associated withthe user 103. For example, the tracking manager 308 may be oneconfiguration of a tracking application installed on the mobile device102 that provides the functionality for locating a tracking device 106and/or requesting location of a tracking device 106 using a trackingsystem 100 and/or a plurality of community mobile devices 104. As shown,the tracking manager 308 may include, but is not limited to, a BluetoothLow Energy (BLE) manager 310 (or equivalent manager for managing thecommunication network used to communicate with tracking devices), apersistence manager 312, a local files manager 314, a motion manager316, a secure storage manager 318, a settings manager 320, a locationmanager 322, a network manager 324, a notification manager 326, a soundmanager 328, a friends manager 330, a photo manager 332, anauthentication manager 334, and a device manager 336. Thus, the trackingmanager 308 may perform any of the functions associated with managers310-338, described in additional detail below.

The BLE manager 310 may be used to manage communication with one or moretracking devices 106 via a communication network. The persistencemanager 312 may be used to store logical schema information that isrelevant to the tracking manager 308. The local files manager 314 may beresponsible for managing all files that are input or output from themobile device 102. The motion manager 316 may be responsible for allmotion management required by the tracking manager 308. The securestorage manager may be responsible for storage of secure data, includinginformation such as passwords and private data that would be accessedthrough this sub-system. The settings manager 320 may be responsible formanaging settings used by the tracking manager 308. Such settings may beuser controlled (e.g., user settings) or defined by the tracking manager308 for internal use (e.g., application settings) by a mobile device 102and/or the tracking system 100. The location manager 322 may beresponsible for all location tracking done by the tracking manager 308.For example, the location manager 322 may manage access to the locationservices of the mobile device 102 and works in conjunction with othermanagers to persist data. The network manager 324 may be responsible forall Internet communications from the tracking manager 308. For example,the network manager 324 may mediate all Internet API calls for thetracking manager 308. The notification manager 326 may be responsiblefor managing local and push notifications required by the trackingmanager 308. The sound manager 328 may be responsible for playback ofaudio cues by the tracking manager 308. The friends manager 330 may beresponsible for managing access to contacts and the user's social graph.The photo manager 332 may be responsible for capturing and managingphotos used by the tracking manager 308. The authentication manager 334may be responsible for handling the authentication (e.g., sign in orlogin) of users. The authentication manager 334 may also includeregistration (e.g., sign up) functionality. The authentication manager334 further coordinates with other managers to achieve registrationfunctionality. The device manager 336 may be responsible for managingthe devices discovered by the tracking manager 308. The device manager336 may further store and/or maintain the logic for algorithms relatedto device discovery and update.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example community mobile device for use in atracking system environment, according to one embodiment. As shown, thecommunity mobile device 104 may include, but is not limited to, a userinterface manager 402, a tracking device manager 404, a database manager406, and a tracking manager 408, each of which may be in communicationwith one another using any suitable communication technologies. The userinterface manager 402, database manager 406, and tracking manager 408illustrated in FIG. 4 may include similar features and functionality asthe user interface manager 302, database manager 306, and trackingmanager 308 described above in connection with FIG. 3 . It will berecognized that although managers 402-408 are shown to be separate inFIG. 4 , any of the managers 402-408 may be combined into fewermanagers, such as into a single manager, or divided into more managersas may serve a particular embodiment.

The community mobile device 104 may include a tracking device manager404. The tracking device manager 404 may facilitate scanning for nearbytracking devices 106. In some configurations, the tracking devicemanager 404 can continuously or periodically scan (e.g., once persecond) for nearby tracking devices 106 without notifying a user of thecommunity mobile device 104. The tracking device manager 404 maydetermine whether to provide an updated location of the nearby trackingdevice 106 to the tracking system 100. In some configurations, thetracking device manager 404 provides a location of a nearby trackingdevice 106 automatically. Alternatively, the tracking device manager 404may determine whether the location of the tracking device 106 has beenrecently updated and may determine whether to provide an updatedlocation based on the last time a location of the tracking device 106has been updated (e.g., by the community mobile device 104). Forexample, where the community mobile device 104 has provided a recentupdate of the location of a tracking device 106, the tracking devicemanager 404 may decide to wait a predetermined period of time (e.g., 5minutes) before providing an updated location of the same trackingdevice 106.

In one configuration, the tracking device manager 404 may receive andprocess a location request or other information relayed to the communitymobile device 104 by the tracking system 100. For example, the trackingdevice manager 404 may receive an indication of a tracking device 106that has been indicated as lost and provide a location of the trackingdevice 106 if it comes within proximity of, or communicative range of,the community mobile device 104. In some configurations, the communitymobile device 104 is constantly scanning nearby areas to determine ifthere is a tracking device 106 within a proximity of the communitymobile device 104. In some configurations, the community mobile device104 is constantly available to receive signal beacons from trackingdevices 106 in the communicative range of the community mobile device104. Therefore, where a tracking device 106 that matches informationprovided by the tracking system 100 (e.g., from the location request)comes within proximity of, or communicates with, the community mobiledevice 104, the tracking device manager 404 may generate and transmit aresponse to the location request to the tracking system 100, which maybe provided to the user 103 associated with the tracking device 106.Further, generating and transmitting the response to the trackingrequest may be conditioned on the status of the tracking device 106being flagged as lost by the mobile device 102 and/or the trackingsystem 100.

The tracking device manager 404 may also be used to relay instructionsto the tracking device 106, e.g., instructions for or to disable afeature of the tracking device 106. In particular, the tracking system100 may transmit instructions to the community mobile device 104 inresponse to receiving the response to the location request to thetracking system 100 from the community mobile device 104. The trackingdevice manager 404 in turn forwards the instructions to the trackingdevice 106, and in response to the instructions, the tracking device 106performs an action relating to a particular feature, such as disablingthe feature. The relevant feature(s) may be included in theinstructions, or the tracking device 106 may store information regardingwhich feature(s) to disable in response to a generic disableinstruction.

The tracking device manager 404 may additionally provide otherinformation to the tracking system 100 in response to receiving thetracking request. For example, in addition to providing a location ofthe community mobile device 104 or tracking device 106 as ascertained bythe community mobile device 104, the tracking device manager 404 mayprovide a signal strength or other indicator associated with thelocation to indicate a level of proximity to the location of thecommunity mobile device 104 provided to the user 103. For example, if asignal strength is high, the location provided to the user 103 is likelyto be more accurate than a location accompanied by a low signalstrength. This may provide additional information that the user 103 mayfind useful in determining the precise location of tracking device 106.

As described above, the tracking device manager 404 may determinewhether to send a location within the proximity of the tracking device106 to the tracking system 100. The determination of whether to send alocation to the tracking system 100 may be based on a variety offactors. For example, a tracking device manager 404 may determine tosend a location of the tracking device 106 to a tracking system 100based on whether the detected tracking device 106 has been indicated aslost or if a tracking request has been provided to the community mobiledevice 104 for the particular tracking device 106. In someconfigurations, the community mobile device 104 may send an update of alocation of a tracking device 106 even if the tracking device 106 is notassociated with a current tracking request or if the tracking device 106is not indicated as lost. For example, where the location of a trackingdevice 106 has not been updated for a predetermined period of time, thecommunity mobile device 104 may provide an update of a tracking devicelocation to the tracking system 100, regardless of whether a trackingrequest has been received.

In some configurations, the community mobile device 104 may includeadditional features. For example, the community mobile device 104 mayallow a tracking system 100 to snap and download a photo using photofunctionality of the community mobile device 104. In someconfigurations, this may be an opt-in feature by which a community user105 permits a tracking system 100 to take a snap-shot and possiblyprovide a visual image of an area within a proximity of the trackingdevice 106.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example tracking device for use in a trackingsystem environment, according to one embodiment. The tracking device 106of FIG. 5 includes an interface 502, a transceiver 504, a controller506, one or more sensors 508, and a GPS unit 510. The transceiver 504 isa hardware circuit capable of both transmitting and receiving signals.It should be noted that in other embodiments, the tracking device 106includes fewer, additional, or different components than thoseillustrated in FIG. 5 . For instance, tracking devices might not includethe GPS unit 510 and can still implement the functionalities describedherein.

The interface 502 provides a communicative interface between thetracking device 106 and one or more other devices, such as a mobiledevice 102. For instance, the interface 502 can instruct the transceiver504 to output beacon signals as described above (for example,periodically or in response to a triggering event, such as a detectedmovement of the tracking device 106). The interface 502 can, in responseto the receiving of signals by the transceiver 504 from, for instance,the mobile device 102, manage a pairing protocol to establish acommunicative connection between the tracking device 106 and the mobiledevice 102. As noted above, the pairing protocol can be a BLEconnection, UWB connection, NFC connection, or pairing protocolassociated with another short-range communication protocol, though inother embodiments, the interface 502 can manage other suitable wirelessconnection protocols (such as WiFi, Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and the like).

The controller 506 is a hardware chip that configures the trackingdevice 106 to perform one or more functions or to operate in one oroperating modes or states. For instance, the controller 506 canconfigure the interval at which the transceiver broadcasts beaconsignals, can authorize or prevent particular devices from pairing withthe tracking device 106 based on information received from the devicesand permissions stored at the tracking device, can increase or decreasethe transmission strength of signals broadcasted by the transceiver, canconfigure the interface to emit a ringtone or flash an LED light, canenable or disable various tracking device sensors, can enable or disablea tracking device GPS unit, can enable or disable communicativefunctionality of the tracking device 106 (such as a GSM transmitter andreceiving), can configure the tracking device into a sleep mode or awakemode, can configure the tracking device into a power saving mode, andthe like. The controller 506 can configure the tracking device toperform functions, related to tracking or another (primary) function, orto operate in a particular operating mode based on information orsignals received from a device paired with or attempting to pair withthe tracking device 106, based on an operating state or connection stateof the tracking device 106, based on user-selected settings, based oninformation stored at the tracking device 106, based on a detectedlocation of the tracking device 106, based on historical behavior of thetracking device 106 (such as a previous length of time the trackingdevice was configured to operate in a particular mode), based oninformation received from the sensors 508 or the GPS 510, or based onany other suitable criteria. The controller 506 may selectively disableor enable features of the tracking device 106 according to instructionsreceived from a mobile device 102 or community mobile device 104.

The sensors 508 can include motion sensors (such as gyroscopes oraccelerators), altimeters, orientation sensors, proximity sensors, lightsensors, or any other suitable sensor configured to detect anenvironment of the tracking device 106, a state of the tracking device106, a movement or location of the tracking device 106, and the like.The sensors 508 are configured to provide information detected by thesensors to the controller 506. The GPS unit 510 is configured to detecta location of the tracking device 106 based on received GPS signals, andis configured to provide detected locations to the controller 506.

Disabling Features of Lost Tracking Device

FIG. 6 illustrates an environment for disabling a feature of a trackingdevice 606, according to one embodiment. The environment includes atracking system 600, a mobile device 602 associated with the trackingdevice 606, a community mobile device 604, and two networks 608 and 610.The tracking system 600, mobile device 602 associated with the trackingdevice, community mobile device 604, first network 608, and secondnetwork 610 are similar to the tracking system 100, mobile device 102,community mobile device 104, first network 108, and second network 110described with respect to FIGS. 1 through 4 . The tracking system 600can associate the mobile device 602 and/or a user of the mobile device602 with the tracking device 606, e.g., using an association manager, asdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 .

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 , the tracking device 606 is not adedicated tracking device—instead, it is configured to perform one ormore primary device features 614, and also includes tracking features612. As discussed above, a tracking device can include one or moreprimary functions (here, the primary device features 614) and secondarytracking device functions, which are enabled by the tracking features612. The tracking features 612 may be implemented by some or all of thecomponents of the tracking device 106 described with respect to FIG. 5 .The tracking device 606 can include one or more functional componentsconfigured to implement the primary device features 614, which areunrelated to tracking of the tracking device 606.

As an example, the tracking device 606 is a wireless speaker withprimary device features 614 of receiving an input signal (e.g., a Wi-Fior Bluetooth signal), outputting audio based on the received signal, andreceiving and responding to playback commands (play, pause, stop, skip,raise or lower volume, etc.). The wireless speaker can also includetracking features 612 that allow a user to track and/or locate thewireless speaker. Certain components of the wireless speaker may be usedto implement both the tracking features 612 and the primary devicefeatures 614. For example, if the wireless speaker is a Bluetoothspeaker, the Bluetooth communications interface may be used both toconnect to a mobile device for playing music, and to transmit beaconsignals used to locate the wireless speaker.

The tracking features 612 may be implemented using a tracking deviceplatform. For example, a tracking device provider can provide an SDK orcustom chipset that, when incorporated into the tracking device 606,enable the tracking features 612. This allows the device to function asa tracking device, e.g., by communicating with other devices within thetracking device ecosystem and responding to tracking-related commandsfrom devices within the tracking device ecosystem. If the trackingfeatures 612 are integrated into the tracking device 606 using an SDK,the tracking device 606 may not have any special-purpose hardwareincluded for the tracking component 612. In other embodiments, one ormore hardware components, such as a communications interface or motionsensors, are included in the tracking device 606 to enable the trackingfeatures 612, e.g., if these components are not used to implement theprimary device features 614.

As described further below, the tracking features 612 may also include afeature for receiving a disabling instruction and implementing thedisabling instruction in the tracking device 606. For example, thetracking features 612 may be implemented by one or more components fortransmitting a tracking signal (e.g., a beacon signal), receiving aninstruction to disable one of the primary device features 614, andtransmitting the instruction to disable the feature to a component forimplementing the primary device features 614.

If the tracking device 606 is lost, the mobile device 602, trackingsystem 600, and community mobile device 604 can interact with each otherand with the tracking device 606 to set a lost flag in the trackingsystem 600 and locate the tracking device 606 as described with respectto FIGS. 1-4 . In addition, the tracking system 600 may transmit aninstruction to the tracking device 606, via the first network 608,community mobile device 604, and second network 610, to disable one ormore features of the tracking device 606.

In one embodiment, the mobile device 602 transmits a request to disablea feature of the tracking device 606 if, for example, the user of themobile device 602 believes that the tracking device 606 has been stolen,or is at risk of being stolen (e.g., if the user left the trackingdevice 606 in a public place). The disabling instruction may be aninstruction to disable all primary device features 614, all trackingfeatures 612, all primary and tracking features 612 and 614, or a singleidentified feature or subset of features. The instruction may depend onthe abilities of the tracking device 606. For example, if the trackingdevice 606 is a wireless speaker or wireless headphones, the instructionmay disable the tracking device 606 from pairing (e.g., via a Bluetoothconnection) with a second device. Even if forming a Bluetooth connectionis disabled, the tracking device 606 may still be able to use theBluetooth communications interface of the tracking device 606 for thetracking features 612, e.g., to transmit beacon signals or receiveinstructions from the community mobile device 614. As another example,if the tracking device 606 is an electronic key for a car, theinstruction to disable the tracking device 606 may disable all primarydevice features 614, e.g., features for locking, unlocking, opening thetrunk, setting off the panic button, or starting the car. This wouldprevent a potential thief from finding or gaining access to the car.

In different embodiments, the instructions can be sent from or stored atthe mobile device 602, the tracking system 600, or the tracking device606. In one embodiment, the mobile device 602 is configured to receivean explicit “disable” instruction from the user, or an instruction fromthe user to disable a particular identified feature or set of features.In another embodiment, the mobile device 602 generates a disableinstruction in response to receiving an indication from the user thatthe tracking device 606 is lost; in this case, one or more parameters ofthe disabling instruction (e.g., which feature(s) to disable, conditionsfor transmitting the disabling instruction) may be locally stored on themobile device 602 and configured by the user. In another embodiment, thetracking system 600 stores disabling instructions for a tracking device606. When the user sets up the tracking features 612 of the trackingdevice 606, the user may have the option to provide one or more rulesfor disabling the tracking device 606 that are administered by thetracking system 600, e.g., disable primary device features 614 wheneverthe tracking device 606 is marked as lost, disable primary devicefeatures 614 if the tracking device 606 is lost and determined tolocated in a public place, disable all device features 612 and 614 ifthe tracking device 606 is more than a threshold distance away from themobile device 602, etc. In other embodiments, one or more rules fordisabling the tracking device 606 may be set by the tracking system 600or may be provided to the tracking system 600 by the manufacturer of thetracking device 606. In yet another embodiment, the tracking device 606stores instructions to disable itself if it is lost, e.g., in responseto receiving a notification from the community mobile device 604 that itis lost, or in response to determining that the tracking device 606 isno longer within a communications range of the mobile device 602. Theseinstructions may be provided by the user (e.g., when configuring thetracking device 606 directly or with the mobile device 602), by thetracking system 600, or by the manufacturer of the tracking device 606.

In some cases, the tracking device 606 only includes tracking features612, i.e., the primary function of the tracking device 606 is fortracking. In such embodiments, the tracking features 612 can be disabledaccording to instructions provided by the mobile device 602 or set atthe tracking system 600 or tracking device 606. In this case, disablingthe tracking device 606 can prevent an unauthorized user from stealingand repurposing the tracking device 606 to track an item belonging tothe unauthorized user.

In some embodiments, the tracking device 606 may have features disabledin stages. As an example, a portion of the primary device features 614are initially disabled when the tracking device 606 is lost. If a presetlength of time passes, additional features (e.g., all primary features614, or a portion of the tracking features 612) are also disabled.Disabling features in stages may preserve battery power of the losttracking device 606 while still allowing the user to locate the trackingdevice 606. If a portion of the features are disabled initially, andthen the tracking device 606 is marked permanently lost by the user viathe mobile device 602, or if a preset length of time has passed, allfeatures of the tracking device 606 may be disabled. In someembodiments, the user can specify different features of the trackingdevice to disable. For example, if the user loses a wireless speaker,the user may first request that a feature for outputting sounds isdisabled to avoid drawing attention to the lost wireless speaker. If,after a period of time, the user does not find the wireless speaker, theuser may request through the mobile device 602 to disable a secondfeature allowing the wireless speaker to pair to other devices. Thisrequest is transmitted in a manner similar to the first request (e.g.,by an instruction that passes from the mobile device 602 to the trackingsystem 600, to the community mobile device 604, and finally to thetracking device 606), and the wireless speaker disables the additionalfeature of pairing to another device.

In some embodiments, after the tracking device 606 has disabled thefeature(s), the tracking device 606 re-enables the feature(s) inresponse to re-enable instructions provided by the mobile device 602.For example, if the mobile device 602 comes within the communicationrange of the tracking device 606, the mobile device 602 automaticallytransmits instructions to the tracking device 606 to re-enable thefeature(s). Alternatively, the mobile device 602 can transmit re-enableinstructions in response to a request from the user of the mobile device602 that the tracking device 606 re-enable the feature(s). As anotherexample, if the mobile device 602 or the user of the mobile device 602determines that the tracking device 606 is safe (e.g., it has beenrecovered by a trusted community member or a friend), the mobile device602 can transmit, automatically or in response to user input, a requestfor the tracking device 606 to re-enable the feature(s). If the mobiledevice 602 is still out of range of the mobile device 602, this requestis transmitted from the mobile device 602 to the tracking system 600,which forwards the request to the community mobile device 604 (oranother community mobile device), which forwards the request to thetracked device 606.

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram illustrating an exemplary process fordisabling a feature of a tracking device, according to one embodiment.The mobile device 602 receives 710 input that the tracking device 606 islost. The input can be received from a user of the mobile device 602,e.g., if the user believes that tracking device 606 was left in a publicplace. As mentioned above, alternatively, the mobile device 602 mayautomatically determine that a tracking device 606 is lost. The inputmay also include an explicit request to disable the tracking device 606or some feature(s) of the tracking device 606, as discussed above withrespect to FIG. 6 .

In response to the input that the tracking device 606 is lost, themobile device 602 transmits a disable instruction 712 to the trackingsystem 600. The tracking system 600 stores 714 the disable instructionreceived from the mobile device 602.

The lost tracking device 606 transmits 716 a tracking signal 718. Forexample, the tracking device 606 may transmit a beacon signal at regularintervals; the tracking signal may be transmitted whether or not thetracking device 606 is lost. The tracking signal 718 is detected by thecommunity mobile device 604, which is presently within thecommunications range of the tracking device 606. The community mobiledevice 604 can extract the identity 720 of the tracking device 606 basedon the received tracking signal 718. The community mobile device 604then transmits the tracking device identifier 722 of the tracking device606 to the tracking system 600. In some embodiments, the communitymobile device 604 may have previously received a notification from thetracking system 600 that the tracking device 606 was marked as lost.

After receiving the tracking device ID 722 from the community mobiledevice 604, the tracking system 600 determines that the tracking deviceID 722 matches the tracking device 606 for which the disable instruction712 is stored. The tracking system 600 then transmits the disableinstruction 726 to the community mobile device 604, which forwards 728the disable instruction 730 to the tracking device 606. In response tothe disable instruction 730, the tracking device 606 disables 732 thefeature(s) specified by the disable instruction 730. The tracking device606 may transmit to the community mobile device 604 a confirmation (notshown in FIG. 6 ) that the disable instruction 730 was received and/orthat the feature(s) have been disabled. The community mobile device 604may forward the confirmation to the tracking system 600, which may inturn forward the confirmation to the mobile device 602.

As discussed with respect to FIG. 6 , the precise instructions fordisabling the tracking device 606 may be stored at the tracking system600. In this case, instead of transmitting a disable instruction 712,the mobile device 602 simply transmits a lost indication to the trackingserver 600. In response, the tracking system 600 sets a lost flag andretrieves disabling instructions for the tracking device 606, which thetracking system 600 forwards to the tracking device 606 via thecommunity mobile device 604.

Alternatively, as discussed with respect to FIG. 6 , the instructionsfor disabling the tracking device 606 may be stored at the trackingdevice 606. As an example, the disable instructions 712, 726, and 730may be replaced by lost indications; when the tracking device 606receives the indication that it is lost, it automatically disables oneor more features according to its stored disabling instructions. FIG. 8is an interaction diagram illustrating another exemplary process fordisabling a feature of a tracking device based on instructions stored onthe tracking device.

The mobile device 602 receives 810 input that the tracking device 606 islost. The input can be received from a user of the mobile device 602, orthe mobile device 602 may automatically determine that the trackingdevice 606 is lost. In response to the input that the tracking device606 is lost, the mobile device 602 transmits a lost indication 812 tothe tracking system 600. The tracking system 600 sets 814 a lost flagbased on the lost indication 812. The tracking system 600 also transmitsa tracking device identifier 816 of the lost tracking device 606 to oneor more community mobile devices, including community mobile device 604.The community mobile device 604 stores 818 the received tracking deviceID so that the community mobile device 604 can scan for nearby trackingdevices and identify whether any nearby tracking devices have beenmarked as lost.

The lost tracking device 606 transmits 820 a tracking signal 822. Forexample, the tracking device 606 may transmit a beacon signal at regularintervals; the tracking signal may be transmitted whether or not thetracking device 606 is lost. The tracking signal 822 is detected by thecommunity mobile device 604, which is presently within thecommunications range of the tracking device 606. The community mobiledevice 604 can extract the identity of the tracking device 606 based onthe received tracking signal 822, and compare 824 the ID of the trackingdevice 606 included in the tracking signal to the stored tracking deviceID. If the community mobile device 604 determines that the ID of thetracking device 606 matches the ID of the tracking device flagged aslost at the tracking system 600, the community mobile device 604transmits a lost indication 826 to the tracking device 606. This lostindication 826 alerts the tracking device 606 that it has been marked aslost.

In response to the lost indication 826, the tracking device 606 disables828 one or more features based on instructions stored at the trackingdevice 606. The tracking device 606 may transmit to the community mobiledevice 604 a confirmation (not shown in FIG. 6 ) that the feature(s)have been disabled. The community mobile device 604 may forward theconfirmation to the tracking system 600, which may in turn forward theconfirmation to the mobile device 602.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a process for disabling a feature ofa tracking device, according to one embodiment. In other embodiments,the process 900 may include additional steps not shown in FIG. 9 , andsome of the steps in the process 900 may be omitted or performed in adifferent order.

The tracking system 600 associates 910 a first mobile device, e.g., themobile device 602, with a tracking device, e.g., the tracking device606. Associating a mobile device with a tracking device at a trackingsystem is described in detail with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2 .

The tracking system 600 receives 912 an instruction, e.g., the disableinstruction 712, from the first mobile device to disable a feature ofthe tracking device. The tracking system 600 also receives 914 anotification from a second mobile device, e.g., the community mobiledevice 604, that the tracking device is within range of the secondmobile device. The second mobile device may have received a beaconsignal from the tracking device identifying the tracking device.

Having received both the instruction to disable the feature and thenotification that the second mobile device is within range of thetracking device, the tracking system 600 transmits 916 the instructionto the second mobile device for the second mobile device to forward tothe tracking device. The tracking device 606 then receives 918 theinstruction to disable the feature from the second mobile device, and inresponse to the instruction, disables the feature.

Although steps 910-918 of FIG. 9 are described as being performed on thetracking system 600, some or all of the steps of these steps mayalternatively be performed on the mobile device 602.

Remote Control of Tracking Device

FIG. 10 illustrates an environment for providing for remote control of atracking device 1040 and/or any other device embodying trackingfunctionality as described herein, according to one embodiment. Theenvironment includes a tracking system 1010, a user mobile device 1001associated with the tracking device 1040, a community mobile device1020, and a network 1030. The tracking system 1010, user mobile device1001 associated with the tracking device 1040, community mobile device1020, and networks may be similar to the tracking system 100, mobiledevice 102, community mobile device 104, and first network 108 andsecond network 110 described with respect to FIGS. 1 through 4 . Thetracking system 1010 can associate the user mobile device 1001 and/or auser of the mobile device 1001 with the tracking device 1040, e.g.,using an association manager, as described above with respect to FIGS. 1and 2 .

Each of the user mobile device 1001, community mobile device 1020, andtracking device 1040 may be embodied in the form of a mobile device ormay be embodied in any other computing device configured to communicatewith a tracking system 1010. Throughout this discussion, the user mobiledevice 1001 may also be referred to as a user computing device 1001, thecommunity mobile device 1020 may also be referred to as a computingdevice 1020, the tracking device 1040 may be referred to as a lostdevice 1040 (even though, as described below, the applicability of thetechniques described herein is not limited to a device that is lost),and the tracking system 1010 may be referred to as a tracking systemserver.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 , the tracking device 1040 is notnecessarily a dedicated tracking device—instead, it may be a deviceconfigured to perform one or more primary device features, and alsoincludes tracking features. As discussed above, a tracking device caninclude one or more primary functions and secondary tracking devicefunctions. The tracking features may be implemented by some or all ofthe components of the tracking device 106 described with respect to FIG.5 . The tracking device 1040 can include one or more functionalcomponents configured to implement the primary device features, whichare not necessarily related to tracking of the tracking device 1040.

As an example, the tracking device 1040 may be a laptop computer withprimary device features including receiving input from users through oneor more interactive interfaces or input sources, displaying output via adisplay screen of the laptop computer, accessing and managing data onthe device, receiving communication input from other devices (e.g., viaa Wi-Fi communication network, a Bluetooth signal), etc. The laptopcomputer can also include tracking features that allow a user to trackand/or locate the laptop computer using the tracking system. Certaincomponents of the laptop computer may be used to implement both thetracking features and the one or more of the primary device features.Continuing the above example, a Bluetooth communications interface ofthe laptop computer may be used both to connect to other computingdevices and to transmit beacon signals used to locate the laptopcomputer.

In particular embodiments, the tracking features may be implementedusing a tracking device platform. For example, a tracking deviceprovider can provide a software development kit (SDK) or custom chipsetthat, when incorporated into the tracking device 1040 (or incorporatedinto a computing device generally), enable the tracking features. Thisallows nearly any computing device to function as a tracking devicewithin the tracking system, e.g., by communicating with other deviceswithin the tracking device ecosystem and responding to tracking-relatedcommands from devices within the tracking device ecosystem. If thetracking features are integrated into the tracking device 1040 using anSDK, the tracking device 1040 may not have any special-purpose hardwareincluded for the tracking component. In other embodiments, one or morehardware components, such as a communications interface or motionsensors, may be included in the tracking device 1040 to enable thetracking features, e.g., if these components are not used to implementthe primary device features.

As described further below, the tracking features may also include afeature for receiving instructions for one or more of the primary devicefeatures and implementing the received instructions using the primarydevice features in the tracking device 1040. For example, the trackingfeatures may be implemented by one or more components for transmitting atracking signal (e.g., a beacon signal), receiving an instructionrelated to one or more primary device features, and transmitting thereceived instructions to a component for implementing the primary devicefeatures.

The environment shown in FIG. 10 supports a wide range of features forinteracting remotely with the tracking devices, such as tracking device1040. In particular embodiments, if the tracking device 1040 is lost,the user computing device 1001, tracking system 1010, and communitycomputing device 1020 can interact with each other and with the trackingdevice 1040 to set a status for the tracking device 1040 in the trackingsystem 1010 as lost and locate the tracking device 1040 as describedwith respect to FIGS. 1-4 . In particular embodiments, a user using theuser computing device 1001 may issue commands to a remote trackingdevice 1040, even when the user computing device 1001 is not withindirect communication range of the tracking device 1040. For example, thetracking system 1010 may transmit an instruction to the tracking device1040, via the community mobile device 1020 and network 1030, relating toone or more features of the tracking device 1040.

In particular embodiments, the user computing device 1001 may transmitinstructions relating to remote operation of a tracking device 1040relating to functions of one or more features of the tracking device1040. The features for which the instructions are sent may be related tothe tracking functions of the tracking device 1040 but may also berelated to the primary (e.g., non-tracking) functions of the trackingdevice. The instructions may encompass a variety of operations dependingon the primary functions made available by the tracking device 1040. Asan example only, and not by way of limitation, the instructions mayinclude instructions to cause particular actions to occur, enable afeature, disable a feature, send a message, alter or cause an output ofthe tracking device (e.g., via a speaker, display screen, haptic device,etc.), modify or delete data stored by the tracking device 1040, updatesoftware or firmware installed on the tracking device 1040, change oneor more settings of the tracking device 1040. The user computing device1001 may transmit instructions upon request of a user of the usercomputing device 1001 (e.g., in response to input provided by a user viaan interactable user interface of the user computing device 1001) orautomatically in response to determining that a particular condition hasbeen satisfied. Conditions may include the tracking device 1040 beingdetermined to be lost, a time elapsed since a previous communicationsignal was received from the tracking device exceeding a thresholdamount of time, time of day, date, etc. Particular embodiments will bedescribed involving the tracking device 1040 being “lost” (e.g., theprecise location of the tracking device 1040 being unknown to the usercomputing device 1001 or tracking system 1010), however, persons ofskill in the art would understand that the same techniques describedherein are applicable to any scenario in which a sufficiently configuredtracking device 1040 is outside of the communication range of a usercomputing device 1040, but within range of communication with anothercomputing device 1020 that is also in communication with a trackingsystem 1010 with which the user computing device 1001 is communicating.

In one embodiment, the user computing device 1001 transmits aninstruction relating a feature of the tracking device 1040 if, forexample, the user of the user computing device 1001 believes that thetracking device 1040 has been stolen, or is at risk of being stolen(e.g., if the user left the tracking device 1040 in a public place). Inparticular embodiments, the instruction may be an instruction to disableall primary device features, tracking features, all primary and trackingfeatures, or a single identified feature or subset of features. Theinstruction may depend on the abilities of the tracking device 1040. Forexample, if the tracking device 1040 is a wireless speaker or wirelessheadphones, the instruction may relate to the ability of the trackingdevice 1040 to pair (e.g., via a Bluetooth connection) with an arbitrarysecond device. Even if forming a Bluetooth connection is disabled, thetracking device 1040 may still be able to use the Bluetoothcommunications interface of the tracking device 1040 for the trackingfeatures, e.g., to transmit beacon signals or receive instructions fromanother computing device that is in communication with the trackingsystem 1010. As another example, if the tracking device 1040 is anelectronic key for a car, the instruction may be to disable all primarydevice features, e.g., features for locking, unlocking, opening thetrunk, setting off the panic button, or starting the car. This wouldprevent a potential thief from finding or gaining access to the car.

In another embodiment, the user computing device 1001 may transmitanother instruction relating to a primary device feature of the trackingdevice 1040 in response to determining that the tracking device 1040 islost, stolen, or at risk of being stolen. Continuing the example aboveof the wireless speaker, the instruction may comprise an instruction tooutput a particular sound using the speaker components of the wirelessspeaker. The sound may then be used by the user of the user computingdevice 1001 or another user in the community of users who engage withthe tracking system 1010 to identify and locate the wireless speaker. Asanother example, if the tracking device 1040 is a laptop computer, theinstruction may include a series of instructions to lock the laptopcomputer and require an additional layer of security (e.g., anadditional security challenge) to be satisfied to unlock the laptopcomputer or else all data stored by the laptop computer will be erased.

In particular embodiments, the primary device features of the trackingdevice do not need to be activated or powered-on for the instructions tobe delivered using the techniques described here. The instructions maybe stored by an always-on tracking component of the tracking device 1040and used by the one or more primary features once the tracking device1040 is reactivated. Thus, in the example of the laptop computer, theinstructions may prevent an unauthorized user from entering the laptopcomputer to review data even if the laptop was not powered-on when thedevice was misplaced, and the instructions were sent from the usercomputing device 1001.

In different embodiments, the instructions can be sent from or stored atthe user computing device 1001, the tracking system 1010, one or moreother computing devices 1020, or the tracking device 1040. In oneembodiment, the user computing device 1001 is configured to receive anexplicit instruction from the user of the user computing device relatingto an identified feature or set of features. In another embodiment, theuser computing device 1001 may generate an instruction in response toreceiving an indication from the user that the tracking device 1040 islost. In this case, one or more parameters of the instruction (e.g.,which feature(s) to which the instructions relate, conditions fortransmitting the instruction) may be locally stored on the usercomputing device 1001 and configured by the user.

In another embodiment, the tracking system 1010 stores instructions fora tracking device 1040. When the user sets up the tracking features ofthe tracking device 1040, the user may have the option to provide one ormore rules for sending instructions to the tracking device 1040 relatingto one or more features that are administered by the tracking system1040, e.g., send a set of instructions relating to one or more primarydevice features whenever the tracking device 1040 is marked as lost,send a set of instructions relating to one or more primary devicefeatures if the tracking device 1040 is lost and determined to locatedin a public place, send a set of instructions relating to one or moreprimary device features (e.g., disable all device features) if thetracking device 1040 is more than a threshold distance away from theuser computing device 1001, etc. In other embodiments, one or more rulesfor disabling the tracking device 1040 may be set by the tracking system1040 or may be provided to the tracking system 1040 by the manufacturerof the tracking device 1040.

In particular embodiments, other computing devices 1020 (e.g., computingdevice not associated with the user or the user computing device 1001)that engage with the tracking system 1010 may store instructionsrelating to primary device features of one or tracking device 1040. Theother computing devices 1020 may provide the instructions to thetracking device 1040 upon receiving a communication signal (e.g., atracking signal) from the tracking device 1040 and identifying thetracking device 1040 as a lost tracking device for which the othercomputing device 1040 is storing instructions.

In yet another embodiment, the tracking device 1040 stores instructionsto disable itself if it is lost, e.g., in response to receiving anotification from another computing device 1020 that it is lost, or inresponse to determining that the tracking device 1040 is no longerwithin a communication range of the user computing device 1001, or inresponse to determining that the tracking device has not received acommunication signal from any computing device associated with thetracking system 1020 for an amount of time (e.g., time elapsed)exceeding a threshold amount of time. These instructions may be providedby the user (e.g., when configuring the tracking device 1040 directly orwith the user computing device 1001), by the tracking system 1010, or bythe manufacturer of the tracking device 1040.

In some cases, the tracking device 1040 only includes tracking features,i.e., the primary function of the tracking device 1040 is for tracking.In such embodiments, the tracking features can be modified and/ordisabled according to instructions provided by the user computing device1001 or set at the tracking system 1010 or tracking device 1040. In thiscase, disabling the tracking device 1040 can prevent an unauthorizeduser from stealing and repurposing the tracking device 1040 to track anitem belonging to the unauthorized user.

In some embodiments, instructions for the tracking device 1040 may besent and delivered in stages. As an example, instructions relating to afirst portion of the primary device features may be initially sent, forexample, when a user first recognizes that the tracking device 1040 islost. As an example, instructions may be sent to lock a laptop computerand require additional security challenges to be satisfied to unlock thelaptop computer. If, for example, a preset amount of time passes,additional instructions relating to additional features may beautomatically sent by the tracking system 1010 or may be recommended tobe sent by the user. Continuing the previous example, after a certainperiod of time without locating the laptop computer the user may berecommended to send instructions to delete sensitive data stored by thelaptop computer. Additional instructions may be sent if a user flags atracking device 1040 as permanently lost through interaction with theuser computing device 1001. Continuing the above example, the user mayflag the laptop computer as permanently lost and send instructions tocause all data on the laptop computer not related to tracking featuresto be deleted. The instructions sent and features for which instructionsare sent may be customized and grouped by the user through a customizinginterface of the user computing device 1001, may be grouped by thetracking system 1010, or may be established by an administrator ormanufacturer of the tracking device 1040.

In particular embodiments, the tracking device 1040 receives theinstructions, performs operations relating to the instructions, andconveys an acknowledgement of the instructions back to the usercomputing device 1001. For example, the tracking system 1010 may relaythe instructions to one or more other computing devices 1020 thatcommunicate with the tracking system 1010. The other computing devicesmay communicate with the tracking device 1040 via a network 1030 andsend the instructions to the tracking device 1040. The tracking devicemay send an acknowledgement of the instructions and/or a confirmationthat the instructions have been effected to the other computing device1020 via the network 1030. The other computing devices 1020 may forwardor resend the acknowledge received from the tracking device 1040 back tothe tracking system 1010. The tracking system 1010 may then send theacknowledgement back to the user computing device 1001. Thus, the systemdescribed herein may enable remote management and control of trackingdevices 1040 (or, more generally, devices that have been configured tointerface with a tracking system 1010) by a user computing device 1001(or other computing device with sufficient privileges, such as anadministrator of a network of device using the tracking system 1010).

FIG. 11 is an interaction diagram illustrating an exemplary process forprocess for remotely performing a command on a tracking device based onan instruction from a user computing device, according to oneembodiment. At step 1003, the user computing device 1001 receives inputof an instruction for a tracking device 1040 from a user of the usercomputing device 1001. The instruction may be received through aninteractive user interface provided by an application associated withthe tracking system 1010 executing on the user computing device 1001.The instruction may be received through communication with anotherdevice used by the user of the user computing device. For example, theuser may send the instruction to the user computing device through aperipheral device such as a tracking device, smartwatch, etc. Theinstruction may include context associated with the instruction, such asan indication that the tracking device has been lost. In someembodiments, the instruction may be automatically generated on behalf ofthe user after one or more conditions have been satisfied. For example,the instruction may be generated automatically (and may optionally beconfirmed by the user) if the user computing device 1001 has notcommunicated with a tracking device 1040 for more than a thresholdperiod of time

In response to receiving the input of the instruction for the trackingdevice that the tracking device 1040, the user computing device 1001transmits the instruction 1005 to the tracking system 1010. Inparticular embodiments, the user computing device 1001 may reformat theinstruction to be more suitable to send to the tracking system 1010. Forexample, the user computing device 1001 may encoded the instruction in amessage for the tracking system 1010. The user computing device 1001 mayaugment the instruction 1005 with additional context information thatmay be useful in ensuring that the instruction can be delivered to thetracking device 1040. For example, the instruction 1005 may be encodedwith a device identification for the tracking device, a time or locationof last contact with the tracking device, and any other suitableinformation. The device identification for the tracking device may be,for example, a universally unique identifier (UUID), a globally uniqueidentifier (GUID), a unique identifier (UID) established by the trackingsystem or the manufacturer of the tracking device, or other suitableidentifier.

At step 1007, the tracking system 1010 receives the instruction message,decodes it if needed, and retrieves the instruction and associatedcontextual information. The tracking system 1010 associates theinstruction with the pending instruction and sets a status for thetracking device 1040 indicating that the tracking device 1010 has apending instruction. For example, the tracking system may maintain oneor more databases for storing data regarding tracking devices,associated user computing devices, and associated users. The trackingsystem 1010 may update one or more of the records of the database tomodify a status associated with the tracking device to, e.g., flag thetracking device 1040 as having a pending instruction. The trackingsystem 1010 may update the records of the database to include theinstruction and other associated contextual information, such as thefeature for which the instruction is pending, the identity of the userwho issued the pending instruction, etc.

At step 1006, which may occur before, during, or after step 1007, thetracking device 1040 transmits 1006 a tracking signal 1011. For example,the tracking device 1040 may transmit a beacon signal at regularintervals. The tracking signal may be transmitted by the tracking device1040 whether or not the tracking device 1040 is lost as part of theregular operations of the tracking device 1040 attempting to interfacewith the tracking system. The tracking signal 1011 is detected by acomputing device 1020 associated with the tracking system 1040 otherthan the user computing device 1001. The computing device 1020 may bepresently within the communications range of the tracking device 1040.

At step 1012, the computing device 1020 can identify the tracking devicebased on the received tracking signal 1011. For example, the trackingsignal 1011 may be encoded with a unique device identification for thetracking device 1040. The computing device 1020 may have previouslycommunicated with the tracking device 1040 and may identify the trackingdevice 1040 by looking up an identifier sent with the tracking signal1011 to determine the tracking device 1040 identification in datastorage stored by the computing device 1020. The computing device 1020then transmits the tracking device identifier 1013 of the trackingdevice 1040 to the tracking system 1010. In some embodiments, asdiscussed in further detail below the computing device 1020 may havepreviously received a notification from the tracking system 1010 thatthe tracking device 1040 was marked as lost or has a pendinginstruction.

Continuing with the flow diagram shown in FIG. 11 , at step 1015, afterreceiving the tracking device ID 1013 from the computing device 1020,the tracking system 1010 compares the tracking device ID received by thecomputing device 1020 with the tracking signal 1011 to the device IDreceived or identified based on the instruction 1005 for the trackingdevice 1040 received from the user computing device 1001. The trackingsystem may determine that the tracking device ID 1013 matches theidentification for the tracking device 1040 for which the instruction1005 was received. The tracking system 1010 may query its databaserecords using the received tracking device ID to determine whether anypending instructions exist for the tracking device 1040 and whetherthere are any status flags set for the tracking device. The trackingsystem 1010 may identify the instruction 1005 received from the usercomputing device and generate a device command 1017 for the trackingdevice 1040 based on the instruction. The tracking system 1010 thentransmits the device command 1017 to the computing device 1020.

The computing device 1020 then forwards the device command 1030 to thetracking device 1040 via the network 1030. In particular embodiments,the computing device 1020 may receive the device command 1017 intendedfor the tracking device 1040 and may regenerate a new device command1025 based on the received device command 1017. For example, the formatof the device command 1017 received from the tracking system 1010 may beinappropriate or less efficient for the computing device 1020 to use tosend to the tracking device 1040. As another example, the device command1017 from the tracking system 1010 may contain the device command 1025for the tracking device 1020, so the computing device 1020 may need toextract the device command 1025 for the tracking device 1020 from thedevice command received from the tracking system 1010. The computingdevice 1020 may send the device command 1025 to the tracking device 1040using any suitable communicating protocol. For example, if the trackingdevice 1040 supports communication sessions, the computing device 1020may establish a communication session with the tracking device uponreceiving the tracking signal 1011 from the tracking device 1040. Thecomputing device 1020 may then send the device command 1025 to thetracking device 1040 on that session. The computing device 1020 may alsoneed to reestablish the communication session if the communicationsession ended prior to the computing device 1020 receiving the devicecommand 1017 from the tracking system 1010.

In particular embodiments, the information for communicating on acommunication session established by the tracking system 1040 may bepredetermined by the tracking system and passed to the various devicescommunicating within the tracking system. For example, the trackingdevice 1040, user computing device 1001, other computing device 1020,and tracking system 1010 may have been associated by a devicemanufacturer with a key for establishing or accessing a communicationsession or channel at time of manufacture. The key for establishing oraccessing a communication session or channel may rotate according to asecured pattern. Such a system may enable the devices to instantlyestablish a secured communication session or channel without a need tosend any potentially identifiable or private information in anunencrypted or unencoded format. Thus, the devices may reduce the riskof an unauthorized user tracking the location of any of the devices orissuing unauthorized commands to the devices.

In other embodiments, the tracking device 1040 and computing device 1020may communicate using beacon signals. The computing device 1020 mayencode and/or encrypt the device command 1025 for the tracking device1040 and broadcast a beacon signal with the device command. Othermethods of the tracking device 1040 and computing device 1020 areenvisioned and may be used.

The tracking device 1040 may receive the device command 1025 from thecomputing device 1020. In particular embodiments, the tracking device1040 may send a response to the computing device 1020 acknowledgingreceipt of the device command 1025. At step 1031, the tracking device1040 may perform the command relating to one or more features of thetracking device 1040 using the one or more features indicated by thecommand. For example, if the tracking device 1040 is or is embodied in alaptop computer and the command was to lock the laptop computer andrequire additional security challenged to unlock the laptop computer,the tracking components of the laptop computer (e.g., hardwarecomponents, software components, a periphery component included with thelaptop computer) may pass the instructions to a central processor of thelaptop computer or other relevant component for the command to beperformed. If the command is able to be performed, the trackingcomponents may send a confirmation 1035 that the command was performedback to the computing device. If, for some reason, the command cannot beperformed, a message may be sent to the computing device 1020 indicatingthat the command was received but not performed and may indicate thereason why the command 1025 could not be performed.

The computing device 1020 may receive the command confirmation (orcommand failure notice) from the tracking device 1040. The computingdevice 1020 may then send an acknowledgement 1045 to the tracking systemindicating that the device command 1017 was performed by the trackingdevice 1040 in response to the instructions send by the computing device1020 to the tracking device 1040. In particular embodiments, thecomputing device may send additional device commands pending in a queueof device commands for the tracking device 1040. The computing device1020 may preferably wait until it has received confirmation of eachseparate command being performed before the subsequent command is sent.Relatedly, the acknowledgement 1045 sent to the tracking system 1040 mayonly be sent once all commands have been sent and performed. Thecomputing device 1020 may also send any failure messages or, asdescribed below, may send a notification that the computing device 1020was not able to send the instructions to the tracking device 1040 (forexample, because the tracking device 1040 left the communication rangeof the computing device 1020 or because the tracking device 1040 lostpower). The tracking system 1010 may send an update 1050 to the usercomputing device 1001 regarding the status of the device command. If thecommand was successful, the tracking system's update 1050 may indicatethat the command was successfully performed by the tracking device 1040.The update may also include a new, most recent location associated withthe tracking device 1040 determined by the computing device 1020 basedin part on the location of the computing device 1020. The user computingdevice 1001 may display the update to the user of the user computingdevice 1001 to update the user of the status of their tracking device1040 and instruction therefor.

FIG. 12 is an interaction diagram illustrating another exemplary processfor remotely performing a command on a tracking device based on aninstruction from a user computing device. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 12 , computing device 1020 stores a device ID 1009 and devicecommand 1017 for the tracking device 1040 and sends the device command1025 to the tracking device 1040 after determining that the trackingdevice 1040 is associated with a pending instruction. The embodimentshown in FIG. 11 differs from that shown in FIG. 12 at least because inFIG. 11 the determination of whether a tracking device 1040 isassociated with a pending instruction is performed by the trackingsystem 1010 prior to sending the device command 1017 to the computingdevice 1020. The computing device 1020 may periodically scan the nearbyenvironment looking for tracking devices 1040. The computing device 1020may also be configured to received beacon signals from nearby trackingdevice 1040 that enable the computing device 1020 to identify thetracking devices as discussed below.

At step 1003, the user computing device 1001 receives input of aninstruction for a tracking device 1040 from a user of the user computingdevice 1001. The instruction may be received through an interactive userinterface provided by an application associated with the tracking system1010 executing on the user computing device 1001. The instruction may bereceived through communication with another device used by the user ofthe user computing device. For example, the user may send theinstruction to the user computing device through a peripheral devicesuch as a tracking device, smartwatch, etc. The instruction may includecontext associated with the instruction, such as an indication that thetracking device has been lost. In some embodiments, the instruction maybe automatically generated on behalf of the user after one or moreconditions have been satisfied. For example, the instruction may begenerated automatically (and may optionally be confirmed by the user) ifthe user computing device 1001 has not communicated with a trackingdevice 1040 for more than a threshold period of time

In response to receiving the input of the instruction for the trackingdevice that the tracking device 1040, the user computing device 1001transmits the instruction 1005 to the tracking system 1010. Inparticular embodiments, the user computing device 1001 may reformat theinstruction to be more suitable to send to the tracking system 1010. Forexample, the user computing device 1001 may encode the instruction in amessage for the tracking system 1010. The user computing device 1001 mayaugment the instruction 1005 with additional context information thatmay be useful in ensuring that the instruction can be delivered to thetracking device 1040. For example, the instruction 1005 may be encodedwith a device identification for the tracking device, a time or locationof last contact with the tracking device, and any other suitableinformation.

At step 1007, the tracking system 1010 receives the instruction message,decodes it if needed, and retrieves the instruction and associatedcontextual information. The tracking system 1010 associates theinstruction with the pending instruction and sets a status for thetracking device 1040 indicating that the tracking device 1010 has apending instruction. For example, the tracking system may maintain oneor more databases for storing data regarding tracking devices,associated user computing devices, and associated users. The trackingsystem 1010 may update one or more of the records of the database tomodify a status associated with the tracking device to, e.g., flag thetracking device 1040 as having a pending instruction. The trackingsystem 1010 may update the records of the database to include theinstruction and other associated contextual information, such as thefeature for which the instruction is pending, the identity of the userwho issued the pending instruction, etc.

The tracking system 1010 then sends the device ID 1009 for the trackingdevice 1040 and the device command 1017 for the tracking device 1040 tothe computing device 1020. At steps 1213 and 1227 the computing device1020 stores the device ID 1009 and device command 1017 in one or moredatastores of the computing device 1020 that are associated with thetracking system 1010. For example, the computing device 1020 may beexecuting an application associated with the tracking system thatenables the computing device 1020 to receive tracking signals, identifytracking devices based on information included in the tracking signals,and communicate with tracking devices and the tracking system 1010. Theapplication may have reserved secure memory of the computing device 1020that the application uses to store information about the trackingdevices, such as, for example, device identification and pendinginstructions.

At step 1006, the tracking device 1040 transmits 1006 a tracking signal1011. For example, the tracking device 1040 may transmit a beacon signalat regular intervals. The tracking signal may be transmitted by thetracking device 1040 whether or not the tracking device 1040 is lost aspart of the regular operations of the tracking device 1040 attempting tointerface with the tracking system. The tracking signal 1011 is detectedby a computing device 1020 associated with the tracking system 1040other than the user computing device 1001. The computing device 1020 maybe presently within the communications range of the tracking device1040.

At step 1231, the computing device 1020 can identify the tracking devicebased on the received tracking signal 1011. For example, the trackingsignal 1011 may be encoded with a unique device identification for thetracking device 1040. The computing device 1020 may have previouslycommunicated with the tracking device 1040 and may identify the trackingdevice 1040 by looking up an identifier sent with the tracking signal1011 in its datastores to determine the tracking device 1040identification in data storage stored by the computing device 1020. Thecomputing device 1040 compares the tracking device ID received by thecomputing device 1020 with the tracking signal 1011 to the device ID1009 received from the tracking system 1010. The computing device 1020may determine a match. The computing device 1020 may query itsdatastores tracking device ID received with the tracking signal 1011 todetermine whether any pending instructions exist for the tracking device1040 and whether there are any status flags set for the tracking device.The computing device 1020 may identify the device command 1017 receivedfrom the tracking system 1010. The computing device 1020 may generate adevice command 1025 for transmission to the tracking device 1040. Thecomputing device 1020 then transmits the device command 1025 to thetracking device 1040. The computing device 1020 may also determine alocation associated with the tracking device 1040 and send anotification to the tracking system 1010 indicating the computing device1020 has received a communication signal (e.g., the tracking signal1011) from the tracking device 1040 and send the device command 1017 tothe tracking device 1040. The computing device 1020 may also send thelocation associated with the tracking device 1040 to the trackingsystem.

The computing device 1020 sends the device command 1025 to the trackingdevice 1040 via the network 1030. The computing device 1020 may send thedevice command 1025 to the tracking device 1040 using any suitablecommunicating protocol. For example, if the tracking device 1040supports communication sessions, the computing device 1020 may establisha communication session with the tracking device upon receiving thetracking signal 1011 from the tracking device 1040. The computing device1020 may then send the device command 1025 to the tracking device 1040on that session. The computing device 1020 may also need to reestablishthe communication session if the communication session ended prior tothe computing device 1020 receiving the device command 1017 from thetracking system 1010. In other embodiments, the tracking device 1040 andcomputing device 1020 may communicate using beacon signals. Thecomputing device 1020 may encode and/or encrypt the device command 1025for the tracking device 1040 and broadcast a beacon signal with thedevice command. Other methods of the tracking device 1040 and computingdevice 1020 are envisioned and may be used.

The tracking device 1040 may receive the device command 1025 from thecomputing device 1020. In particular embodiments, the tracking device1040 may send a response to the computing device 1020 acknowledgingreceipt of the device command 1025. At step 1031, the tracking device1040 may perform the command relating to one or more features of thetracking device 1040 using the one or more features indicated by thecommand. For example, if the tracking device 1040 is or is embodied in alaptop computer and the command was to lock the laptop computer andrequire additional security challenged to unlock the laptop computer,the tracking components of the laptop computer (e.g., hardwarecomponents, software components, a periphery component included with thelaptop computer) may pass the instructions to a central processor of thelaptop computer or other relevant component for the command to beperformed. If the command is able to be performed, the trackingcomponents may send a confirmation 1035 that the command was performedback to the computing device. If, for some reason, the command cannot beperformed, a message may be sent to the computing device 1020 indicatingthat the command was received but not performed and may indicate thereason why the command 1025 could not be performed.

The computing device 1020 may receive the command confirmation (orcommand failure notice) from the tracking device 1040. The computingdevice 1020 may then send an acknowledgement 1045 to the tracking systemindicating that the device command 1017 was performed by the trackingdevice 1040 in response to the instructions send by the computing device1020 to the tracking device 1040. In particular embodiments, thecomputing device may send additional device commands pending in a queueof device commands for the tracking device 1040. The computing device1020 may preferably wait until it has received confirmation of eachseparate command being performed before the subsequent command is sent.Relatedly, the acknowledgement 1045 sent to the tracking system 1040 mayonly be sent once all commands have been sent and performed. Thecomputing device 1020 may also send any failure messages or, asdescribed below, may send a notification that the computing device 1020was not able to send the instructions to the tracking device 1040 (forexample, because the tracking device 1040 left the communication rangeof the computing device 1020 or because the tracking device 1040 lostpower). The tracking system 1010 may send an update 1050 to the usercomputing device 1001 regarding the status of the device command. If thecommand was successful, the tracking system's update 1050 may indicatethat the command was successfully performed by the tracking device 1040.The update may also include a new, most recent location associated withthe tracking device 1040 determined by the computing device 1020 basedin part on the location of the computing device 1020. The user computingdevice 1001 may display the update to the user of the user computingdevice 1001 to update the user of the status of their tracking device1040 and instruction therefor.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart illustrating a process or method for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device that may be performed by a tracking system server,according to one embodiment. In other embodiments, the method 1300 mayinclude additional steps not shown in FIG. 13 , and some of the steps inthe method 1300 may be omitted or performed in a different order.

The method may begin at step 1310 where the tracking system server 1010may receive instructions intended for a tracking device 1040 from theuser computing device 1001. The tracking system server 1040 and usercomputing device 1001 may communication over a first communicationnetwork such as a long distance communication network. The instructionsmay be generated by the user computing device 1001 in response to arequest from a user of the user computing device or may be generatedautomatically in response to, for example, a determination that thetracking device 1040 is misplaced. In particular embodiments, thetracking system server 1040 may generate the instructions itself inresponse to a determination that the instructions should be sent to thetracking device 1040 on behalf of the user associated with the trackingdevice 1040.

At step 1312, the tracking system server 1010 may determine anidentification for the tracking device 1040 (e.g., a device ID) and mayflag the tracking device 1040 as having a pending instruction. Thetracking system server 1010 may parse, decode, and/or decrypt theinstructions received from the user computing device 1001 to determinethe identification for the tracking device 1040. The tracking systemserver 1010 may flag the tracking device, e.g., update a statusassociated with the tracking device ID in one or more associated datastores of the tracking system server 1010, to indicate that the trackingdevice 1040 has a pending instruction.

At step 1314, the tracking system server may receive a tracking signalfrom a remote device through communication with a computing device 1020.The tracking signal may indicate information such as a device IDassociated with the remote device, a location associated with the remotedevice and/or a location associated with the computing device 1020. Thecomputing device 1020 may have generated the tracking signal or receivedthe tracking signal from the remote device. The computing device may beexecuting an application associated with the tracking system thatenables secured communication with the tracking system server via along-range communication network.

At step 1316, the tracking system server 1010 may determine that theremote device is the tracking device 1040 associated with a pendinginstruction by comparing the identification received in the trackingsignal with the identification for the tracking device 1040 received ordetermined based on communication with the user computing device 1001.The tracking system server 1010 may query its associated databases usingthe device ID included in the tracking signal. The query may reveal astatus associated with the device ID indicating that tracking system1010 has a pending instruction for deployment to the tracking device1040.

At step 1318, the tracking system server 1040 may generate a devicecommand for the tracking device 1040 based on the indication andinstructions received from the user computing device 1001. The trackingsystem server 1040 may identify the instruction received from the usercomputing device 1001 and may encode and/or encrypt the instruction in amessage for the tracking device 1040.

At step 1320, the tracking system server 1040 may send the generateddevice command to the computing device 1020 with further instructionsfor the computing device 1020 to transmit the device command to thetracking device 1040 (e.g., the remote device which the computing device1020 had been communicating with). The tracking system server 1040 maythen await a response from the computing device 1020.

At step 1322, the tracking system server 1010 may receive anacknowledgement from the computing device 1020 indicating that thedevice command was performed by the tracking device 1040. In response toreceiving the acknowledgement from the computing device 1020, thetracking system server 1040 may, at step 1324, send a confirmation tothe user computing device 1001 that the device command was performed bythe tracking device 1040.

At step 1326, the tracking system server 1010 may receive a notificationof a lost device from the computing device 1020. The notification of alost device may indicate that the computing device 1020 was unable tosend the device command to the tracking device 1020. The tracking systemserver 1040 may attempt to identify additional computing devices 1020that are in communication range of the tracking device 1040. Forexample, the tracking system server 1010 may search its databases forone or more computing devices 1020 that have a location near the lastknown location of the tracking device 1040. The tracking system server1040 may also await further tracking signals from other computingdevices 1020 indicating that they have received a communication signalfrom the tracking device 1040. The tracking system server may send thedevice command and device ID to the other identified computing devices1020 and await a confirmation message from those devices (as in step1322). If, after a threshold amount of time or failed attempts to sendthe device command to the tracking device 1040, the tracking systemserver 1040 may, at step 1328 send a notification to the user computingdevice 1328 that the tracking system server 1040 was unable to send adevice command to the tracking device 1040. The notification to the usercomputing device 1328 may further indicate that the tracking device 1040is currently lost to the tracking system but provide a most recent lastknown location.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating a process or method for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device that may be performed by a computing device,according to one embodiment. In other embodiments, the method 1400 mayinclude additional steps not shown in FIG. 14 , and some of the steps inthe method 1400 may be omitted or performed in a different order.

The method may begin at step 1410 where a computing device 1020 receivesa tracking signal or other kind of communication signal from a remotedevice (e.g., a tracking device 1040). The tracking signal may bereceived via a communication network or protocol specializing inshort-range device communications (e.g., second network 1030). Thecomputing device 1020 may be associated with a tracking system andexecuting an application associated with the tracking system enablingcommunication with tracking devices (e.g., tracking device 1040) and atracking system server 1010.

At step 1412, the computing device 1020 may determine an identificationfor the remote device. For example, the computing device 1020 maydetermine a device ID for the remote device, where the device ID is aunique identifier for the remote device assigned by the tracking systemor a manufacturer of the remote device. The computing device 1020 mayparse, decode, or decrypt the tracking signal to determine theidentification. For example, the tracking signal may have the deviceidentification embedded within it so that the computing device 1020,using the application associated with the tracking system, can easilydetermine the device identification.

At step 1414, the computing device 1020 may transmit the determinedidentification for the remote device to a tracking system serverassociated with the tracking system. The computing device 1020 maytransmit the identification using a communication network or protocolfor long-range communication (e.g., longer range than the communicationnetwork using to communicate with the remote device 1040). The computingdevice 1020 may be configured to transmit additional contextualinformation with the device identification. For example, the computingdevice 1020 may send a location associated with the remote device, alocation of the computing device, a time associated with receiving thetracking signal, and any other parameters associated with the remotedevice and device identification.

At step 1416, the computing device 1020 may receive a device commandfrom the tracking system server 1010. The device command may include orbe sent with instructions to forward or retransmit the device command tothe remote device 1040. For example, the device command may include thedevice identification or another reference to the remote device thatenables the computing device 1020 to send the device command to thecorrect remote device.

At step 1418, the computing device 1020 may transmit the device commandto the remote device using the device identification. In particularembodiments, the computing device 1020 may establish or re-establish acommunication session with the remote device according to thecommunication protocols of the network used. For example, the remotedevice and computing device may communicate by establishing acommunication session to send the tracking signal. If the communicationsession is still active when the computing device 1020 receives thedevice command from the tracking system server 1040, the computingdevice 1020 may forward the device command to the remote device. If thecommunication session is no longer active (e.g., if the connection timedout, or if the computing device 1020 had to close the session foranother reason), the computing device 1020 may ping the remote device tore-establish the communication session or start a new communicationsession. In particular embodiments, the computing device 1020 and remotedevice (e.g., tracking device 1040) may have communicated using asessionless communication protocol. For example, the tracking signal mayhave been received as a beacon signal with the necessary trackinginformation (e.g., device identification) encoded within the signal. Thecomputing device 1020 may then communicate back with the remote deviceby encoding the device commands within a beacon signal addressed to (oronly decryptable by) the remote device. The computing device 1020 mayoptionally receive a confirmation of receipt of the device commands.

At step 1420, the computing device 1020 may await confirmation ofperformance of the device command from the remote device. The computingdevice 1020 may be configured to wait for a predetermined period of timefor the remote device to send the confirmation. If, after the allottedperiod of time, the computing device 1020 has not received theconfirmation, the method may proceed to step 1422 (path “No” in FIG. 14).

At step 1422, the computing device 1020 may determine whether a numberof attempts to transmit the device command satisfies a threshold numberof attempts. The computing device 1020 may be configured to resend thedevice command a predetermined number of times over a predeterminedperiod of time. For example, the computing device 1020 may receive, fromthe tracking system, an instruction with the device command indicatingthat the computing device should resend the device command up to 10times over a minute. Thus, every six seconds that the computing device1020 has now received a confirmation message, the computing device 1020will resend the device command. If the threshold number of attempts hasnot been reached, the method will return to step 1418 and retransmit thedevice command to the remote device. If the number of attempts has beensatisfied, then the method may proceed to step 1424.

At step 1424, the computing device 1020 determines that the computingdevice 1020 is not able to communicate the device commands to the remotedevice. The computing device 1020 may determine that the remote deviceis lost to the tracking system, at least from the perspective of thecomputing device 1020. The computing device 1020 may transmit anotification of the remote device as lost, or at least a notification ofthe loss of the ability to communicate with the remote device, to thetracking system server 1010.

If, at step 1420, the computing device receives confirmation ofperformance of the device command from the remote device, the method mayadvance to step 1426 (path “Yes” in FIG. 14 ). The remote device may beconfigured to send another message along the communication session, oranother beacon signal, confirming that the device commands have beenperformed. Where the device command relates to one or more features ofthe remote device, the confirmation may indicate whether some or all ofthe commands were performed and relay any reasons why commands were notperformed. At step 1426, the computing device 1020 may transmitconfirmation of performance of the device command to the tracking systemserver 1040. The computing device 1020 may retransmit the confirmationreceived from the remote device along to the tracking system server(e.g., using the longer-range communication network). The computingdevice may also modify the confirmation message as needed beforetransmitting.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating a process or method for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device that may be performed by a tracking system server,according to one embodiment. In other embodiments, the method 1500 mayinclude additional steps not shown in FIG. 15 , and some of the steps inthe method 1500 may be omitted or performed in a different order.

The method may begin at step 1510 where the tracking system server 1010may receive instructions intended for a tracking device 1040 from theuser computing device 1001. The tracking system server 1040 and usercomputing device 1001 may communication over a first communicationnetwork such as a long distance communication network. The instructionsmay be generated by the user computing device 1001 in response to arequest from a user of the user computing device or may be generatedautomatically in response to, for example, a determination that thetracking device 1040 is misplaced. In particular embodiments, thetracking system server 1040 may generate the instructions itself inresponse to a determination that the instructions should be sent to thetracking device 1040 on behalf of the user associated with the trackingdevice 1040.

At step 1512, the tracking system server 1010 may determine anidentification for the tracking device 1040 (e.g., a device ID) and mayflag the tracking device 1040 as having a pending instruction. Thetracking system server 1010 may parse, decode, and/or decrypt theinstructions received from the user computing device 1001 to determinethe identification for the tracking device 1040. The tracking systemserver 1010 may flag the tracking device, e.g., update a statusassociated with the tracking device ID in one or more associated datastores of the tracking system server 1010, to indicate that the trackingdevice 1040 has a pending instruction.

At step 1514, the tracking system server 1040 may generate a devicecommand for the tracking device 1040 based on the indication andinstructions received from the user computing device 1001. The trackingsystem server 1040 may identify the instruction received from the usercomputing device 1001 and may encode and/or encrypt the instruction in amessage for the tracking device 1040.

At step 1516, the tracking system server 1040 may send the deviceidentification for the tracking device 1040 and the generated devicecommand to one or more computing devices 1020 associated with thetracking system. For example, the one or more computing devices may beexecuting an application associated with the tracking system enablingsecure communication with the tracking system server. The trackingsystem server 1010 may choose the computing device 1020 to which to sendthe device identification and device command based on a variety offactors, including, but not limited to, the computing device 1020 havingrecently communicated or received a tracking signal associated with thetracking device 1040, the computing device 1020 being located at or neara previous location associated with the tracking device 1040 (such as alast known location), the computing device 1020 having particularhardware components that would advantage the computing device 1020 incommunicating with the tracking device 1040 (e.g., having a morepowerful transceiver), a user of the computing device 1020 being in someway associated with the user of the user computing device (e.g., as apart of a common cohort of users, friend group, social network, etc.),and other suitable factors. The tracking system server 1010 may send thedevice identification and device command to all computing devicesassociated with tracking system. The tracking system server send thedevice identification and device command to all computing device 1020within a particular geographic region. The tracking system server mayfurther send instructions for the computing device 1020 to transmit thedevice command to the tracking device 1040 (e.g., the remote devicewhich the computing device 1020 had been communicating with). Thetracking system server 1040 may then await a response from the computingdevice 1020.

At step 1522, the tracking system server 1010 may receive anacknowledgement from the computing device 1020 indicating that thedevice command was performed by the tracking device 1040. In response toreceiving the acknowledgement from the computing device 1020, thetracking system server 1040 may, at step 1524, send a confirmation tothe user computing device 1001 that the device command was performed bythe tracking device 1040.

At step 1526, the tracking system server 1010 may receive a notificationof a lost device from the computing device 1020. The notification of alost device may indicate that the computing device 1020 was unable tosend the device command to the tracking device 1020. The tracking systemserver 1040 may attempt to identify additional computing devices 1020that are in communication range of the tracking device 1040. Forexample, the tracking system server 1010 may search its databases forone or more computing devices 1020 that have a location near the lastknown location of the tracking device 1040. The tracking system server1040 may also await further tracking signals from other computingdevices 1020 indicating that they have received a communication signalfrom the tracking device 1040. The tracking system server may send thedevice command and device ID to the other identified computing devices1020 and await a confirmation message from those devices (as in step1522). If, after a threshold amount of time or failed attempts to sendthe device command to the tracking device 1040, the tracking systemserver 1040 may, at step 1328 send a notification to the user computingdevice 1528 that the tracking system server 1040 was unable to send adevice command to the tracking device 1040. The notification to the usercomputing device 1328 may further indicate that the tracking device 1040is currently lost to the tracking system but provide a most recent lastknown location.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart illustrating a process or method for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device that may be performed by a computing device,according to one embodiment. In other embodiments, the method 1600 mayinclude additional steps not shown in FIG. 16 , and some of the steps inthe method 1600 may be omitted or performed in a different order.

The method may begin at step 1610 where a computing device 1020 receivesa tracking signal or other kind of communication signal from a remotedevice (e.g., a tracking device 1040). The tracking signal may bereceived via a communication network or protocol specializing inshort-range device communications (e.g., second network 1030). Thecomputing device 1020 may be associated with a tracking system and beexecuting an application associated with the tracking system enablingcommunication with tracking devices (e.g., tracking device 1040) and atracking system server 1010.

At step 1612, the computing device 1020 may determine an identificationfor the remote device. For example, the computing device 1020 maydetermine a device ID for the remote device, where the device ID is aunique identifier for the remote device assigned by the tracking systemor a manufacturer of the remote device. The computing device 1020 mayparse, decode, or decrypt the tracking signal to determine theidentification. For example, the tracking signal may have the deviceidentification embedded within it so that the computing device 1020,using the application associated with the tracking system, can easilydetermine the device identification.

At step 1614, the computing device 1020 may receive a deviceidentification and device command from the tracking system server 1010.The device identification may be capable of being used by the computingdevice to identify a remote device associated with the tracking system.The device command may include or be sent with instructions to forwardor retransmit the device command to a remote device with a deviceidentification matching the device identification. For example, thedevice command may include the device identification or anotherreference to the remote device that enables the computing device 1020 tosend the device command to the correct remote device. The computingdevice 1020 may store the device command in association with the deviceidentification in one or more secure datastores of the computing device1020. For example, the computing device 1020 may have reserved storagefor use by the tracking system or the application associated with thetracking system executing on the computing device. The computing device1020 may use the storage to store information about remote devices thatthe computing device 1020 has previously communicated with or to storedevice commands issued by the tracking system server 1010.

At step 1616, the computing device 1020 may determine that the remotedevice from which it received the tracking signal is the deviceidentified by a device identification received from the tracking systemserver 1010 and stored in the datastores of the computing device 1020.The computing device 1020 may retrieve the device commands associatedwith the remote device.

At step 1618, the computing device 1020 may transmit the device commandto the remote device using the device identification. In particularembodiments, the computing device 1020 may establish or re-establish acommunication session with the remote device according to thecommunication protocols of the network used. For example, the remotedevice and computing device may communicate by establishing acommunication session to send the tracking signal. If the communicationsession is still active when the computing device 1020 receives thedevice command from the tracking system server 1040, the computingdevice 1020 may forward the device command to the remote device. If thecommunication session is no longer active (e.g., if the connection timedout, or if the computing device 1020 had to close the session foranother reason), the computing device 1020 may ping the remote device tore-establish the communication session or start a new communicationsession. In particular embodiments, the computing device 1020 and remotedevice (e.g., tracking device 1040) may have communicated using asessionless communication protocol. For example, the tracking signal mayhave been received as a beacon signal with the necessary trackinginformation (e.g., device identification) encoded within the signal. Thecomputing device 1020 may then communicate back with the remote deviceby encoding the device commands within a beacon signal addressed to (oronly decryptable by) the remote device. The computing device 1020 mayoptionally receive a confirmation of receipt of the device commands.

At step 1620, the computing device 1020 may await confirmation ofperformance of the device command from the remote device. The computingdevice 1020 may be configured to wait for a predetermined period of timefor the remote device to send the confirmation. If, after the allottedperiod of time, the computing device 1020 has not received theconfirmation, the method may proceed to step 1622 (path “No” in FIG. 16).

At step 1622, the computing device 1020 may determine whether a numberof attempts to transmit the device command satisfies a threshold numberof attempts. The computing device 1020 may be configured to resend thedevice command a predetermined number of times over a predeterminedperiod of time. For example, the computing device 1020 may receive, fromthe tracking system, an instruction with the device command indicatingthat the computing device should resend the device command up to 10times over a minute. Thus, every six seconds that the computing device1020 has now received a confirmation message, the computing device 1020will resend the device command. If the threshold number of attempts hasnot been reached, the method will return to step 1618 and retransmit thedevice command to the remote device. If the number of attempts has beensatisfied, then the method may proceed to step 1624.

At step 1624, the computing device 1020 determines that the computingdevice 1020 is not able to communicate the device commands to the remotedevice. The computing device 1020 may determine that the remote deviceis lost to the tracking system, at least from the perspective of thecomputing device 1020. The computing device 1020 may transmit anotification of the remote device as lost, or at least a notification ofthe loss of the ability to communicate with the remote device, to thetracking system server 1010.

If, at step 1620, the computing device receives confirmation ofperformance of the device command from the remote device, the method mayadvance to step 1626 (path “Yes” in FIG. 16 ). The remote device may beconfigured to send another message along the communication session, oranother beacon signal, confirming that the device commands have beenperformed. Where the device command relates to one or more features ofthe remote device, the confirmation may indicate whether some or all ofthe commands were performed and relay any reasons why commands were notperformed. At step 1626, the computing device 1020 may transmitconfirmation of performance of the device command to the tracking systemserver 1040. The computing device 1020 may retransmit the confirmationreceived from the remote device along to the tracking system server(e.g., using the longer-range communication network). The computingdevice may also modify the confirmation message as needed beforetransmitting.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart illustrating a process or method for remotelyperforming a command on a tracking device based on an instruction from auser computing device that may be performed by a tracking device,according to one embodiment. In other embodiments, the method 1700 mayinclude additional steps not shown in FIG. 17 , and some of the steps inthe method 1700 may be omitted or performed in a different order.

In particular embodiments, the method may begin at step 1712, where thetracking device 1040 establishes a communication session with acomputing device within a communication range of the tracking device.The tracking device 1040 may send a probe beacon out to all computingdevices within a communication range of the tracking device 1040. Thebeacon may request a connection with the computing devices and may beused to determine a protocol to use to establish the communicationsession. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of establishingthe communication session and transmitting and receiving data with thecomputing device may be specially encoded or encrypted to as to protectthe data being transmitted from being intercepted and/or read by devicesnot associated with the user of the tracking device and the trackingsystem.

In particular embodiments, the method 1700 may continue to step 1712,where the tracking device 1040 may transmit a tracking signal to thecomputing device 1020. As noted in FIG. 17 , in particular embodiments,the method 1700 may begin with step 1712, such as in embodiments wherethe tracking device 1040 communicates with computing devices usingbeacon signals that do not require the tracking device 1040 to firstestablish a communication session with the computing device 1020. Thetracking signal may contain information sufficient to identify thetracking device (e.g., a device identification), location informationassociated with the tracking device, and other suitable information asdescribed above. Where the tracking device 1040 is communicating usingbeacon signals, the tracking device 1040 may merely send the trackingsignal out to all devices within a communication range of the trackingdevice 1040. The tracking device 1040 may also include a device addresswith the tracking signal allowing recipient computing devices todetermine whether beacon is intended for them.

In particular embodiments, at some point after transmitting the trackingsignal, the tracking device 1040 may re-establish a communicationsession with the computing device 1020. As discussed previously, thisstep may be optional in embodiments where the tracking device 1040 andcomputing device 1020 communicate using a sessionless communicationprotocol or where the communication session established step 1710remains active.

At step 1716, the tracking device 1040 receives a device command fromthe computing device 1020. The device command may relate to one or morefeatures of the tracking device or to one or features of another devicein which the tracking device is embodied. For example, the trackingdevice may have tracking device functions and primary device functions,especially where the primary function of the tracking device issomething other than providing for device tracking functionality. Forexample, the tracking device may be, or may be embedded within, asmartphone, a laptop computer, a wireless speaker, etc. The devicecommands may be associated with one or more primary device functions.For example, the device commands may indicate that laptop computer orsmart phone functions of the tracking device should be disabled untilsecurity challenges can be answered by a user of the laptop computer orsmartphone. The device commands may also indicate which user of thetracking system is responsible for issuing the device commands. In someembodiments, only the primary user (e.g., owner) of the tracking devicewill have the authorization to issue device commands. In someembodiments, another user of the tracking system may have authorizationto issue device commands to tracking device on behalf of or supersedinga primary device user. For example, a parent account may haveauthorization to issue device commands to a laptop computer owned by achild account associated with the parent account. As another example, acompany administrator may have authorization to issue device commands toa smartphone used by an employee of the company. The tracking device maystore the identity of the user that issued the device commands so thatthe user of the tracking device can determine who sent the commands orso that the person who sent the commands can create a record of theactions they have taken.

At step 1718, the tracking device 1040 performs the functions associatedwith the device command using the one or more device features identifiedby the device command received from the computing device 1020.

At step 1720, the tracking device 1040 transmits confirmation ofperformance of the device command to the computing device 1020. Asbefore, the tracking device 1040 may re-establish a communicationsession with the computing device 1020 if necessary, based on the needsof the communication protocol used by the computing device 1020 andtracking device 1040. The tracking device 1040 may transmit theconfirmation to the computing device so that the tracking system 1010can receive verification that the commands have bene performed.

Particular embodiments may repeat one or more steps of the methods ofFIGS. 13-17 , where appropriate. Although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular steps of the methods of FIGS. 13-17 as occurringin a particular order, this disclosure contemplates any suitable stepsof the methods of FIG. 13-17 occurring in any suitable order. Moreover,although this disclosure describes and illustrates example methods forremotely performing device commands on a tracking device including theparticular steps of the methods of FIG. 13-17 , this disclosurecontemplates any suitable method for remotely performing device commandson a tracking device including any suitable steps, which may includeall, some, or none of the steps of the methods of FIG. 13-17 , whereappropriate. Furthermore, although this disclosure describes andillustrates particular components, devices, or systems carrying outparticular steps of the methods of FIG. 13-17 , this disclosurecontemplates any suitable combination of any suitable components,devices, or systems carrying out any suitable steps of the methods ofFIG. 13-17 .

Additional Considerations

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented for the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Any of the devices or systems described herein can be implemented by oneor more computing devices. A computing device can include a processor, amemory, a storage device, an I/O interface, and a communicationinterface, which may be communicatively coupled by way of communicationinfrastructure. Additional or alternative components may be used inother embodiments. In particular embodiments, a processor includeshardware for executing computer program instructions by retrieving theinstructions from an internal register, an internal cache, or othermemory or storage device, and decoding and executing them. The memorycan be used for storing data or instructions for execution by theprocessor. The memory can be any suitable storage mechanism, such asRAM, ROM, flash memory, solid state memory, and the like. The storagedevice can store data or computer instructions, and can include a harddisk drive, flash memory, an optical disc, or any other suitable storagedevice. The I/O interface allows a user to interact with the computingdevice, and can include a mouse, keypad, keyboard, touch screeninterface, and the like. The communication interface can includehardware, software, or a combination of both, and can provide one ormore interfaces for communication with other devices or entities.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of theinvention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a non-transitory, tangible computer readable storagemedium, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, which may be coupled to a computer system bus.Furthermore, any computing systems referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a product that isproduced by a computing process described herein. Such a product maycomprise information resulting from a computing process, where theinformation is stored on a non-transitory, tangible computer readablestorage medium and may include any embodiment of a computer programproduct or other data combination described herein.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a trackingsystem server, an instruction from a first computing device relating toa feature of a second computing device; receiving, by the trackingsystem server, a notification from a third computing device that thethird computing device has received a tracking signal from the secondcomputing device; in response to receiving the instruction relating tothe feature of the second computing device and the notification that thethird computing device has received the tracking signal, transmitting,by the tracking system server to the third computing device, aninstruction for the second computing device relating to the feature, thethird computing device configured to transmit the instruction to thesecond computing device; receiving, by the tracking system server, aresponse message from the third computing device indicating that thesecond computing device has not received the instruction for the secondcomputing device; transmitting, by the tracking system server to thethird computing device, a request to retransmit the instruction to thesecond computing device; receiving, by the tracking system server, aresponse message from the third computing device indicating that thesecond computing device has acknowledged the instruction for the secondcomputing device; and transmitting, by the tracking system server to thefirst computing device, a response message indicating that the secondcomputing device has acknowledged the instruction for the secondcomputing device; wherein the response message from the third computingdevice indicating that the second computing device has not received theinstruction for the second computing is received from the thirdcomputing device after the third computing device has waited for apredetermined period of time.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theresponse message from the third computing device indicating that thesecond computing device has not received the instruction for the secondcomputing is received from the third computing device after the thirdcomputing device has completed a threshold number of attempts to sendthe instruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second computing devicehas a tracking component and a functional component configured toimplement the feature, wherein the functional component and the featureare both unrelated to tracking the second computing device.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the tracking component of the secondcomputing device is configured to provide received instructions to thefunctional component of the second computing device.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the instruction from the first computing devicerelating to the feature of the second computing device further comprisesan identification for the second computing device, and wherein themethod further comprises: storing, by the tracking system server, theidentification for the second computing device in association with theinstruction relating to the feature of the second computing device. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to transmitting theinstruction for the second computing device relating to the feature tothe third computing device, authenticating, by the tracking systemserver, a relationship between the first computing device and the secondcomputing device or a relationship between a user of the first computingdevice and a user of the second computing device.
 7. The method of claim1, further comprising: receiving a notification from the secondcomputing device via the third computing device that the secondcomputing device has complete the instruction for the second computingdevice relating to the feature; and in response to receiving thenotification from the second computing device, transmitting, by thetracking system server to the first computing device, a confirmationthat the second computing device has completed the instruction for thesecond computing device relating to the feature.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the second computing device is a laptop computer, asmartphone, a wireless speaker, a fitness tracker, or a camera.
 9. Amethod comprising: receiving, by a first computing device and from asecond computing device, a tracking signal; sending, by the firstcomputing device and to a tracking system server, a notification thatthe first computing device has received the tracking signal from thesecond computing device; receiving, by the first computing device andfrom the tracking system server, an instruction for the second computingdevice, wherein the instruction for the second computing devicecomprises an instruction relating to a feature of the second computingdevice; attempting, by the first computing device, to send theinstruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice; after determining that the first computing device is unable tosend the instruction for the second computing device to the secondcomputing device, sending, by the first computing and to the trackingsystem server, a response message indicating that the first computingdevice is unable to send the instruction for the second computing deviceto the second computing device; receiving, by the first computing deviceand from the tracking system server, a request to retransmit theinstruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice; sending, by the first computing device and to the secondcomputing device, the instruction for the second computing device;receiving, by the first computing device and from the second computingdevice, acknowledgement of the instruction for the second computingdevice; and sending, by the first computing device and to the trackingsystem server, a response message indicating that the second computingdevice has acknowledged the instruction for the second computing device;wherein determining that the first computing device is unable to sendthe instruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice comprises waiting a predetermined period of time foracknowledgement of the instruction for the second computing device. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein determining that the first computingdevice is unable to send the instruction for the second computing deviceto the second computing device comprises completing a threshold numberof attempts to send, to the second computing device, the instruction forthe second computing device.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein theacknowledgement of the instruction for the second computing devicecomprises confirmation that the second computing device has performedthe instruction for the second computing device.
 12. The method of claim9, wherein the second computing device has a tracking component and afunctional component configured to implement the feature, wherein thefunctional component and the feature are both unrelated to tracking thesecond computing device.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the secondcomputing device is a laptop computer, a smartphone, a wireless speaker,a fitness tracker, or a camera.
 14. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: determining, by the first computing device, anidentification for the second computing device based on the receivedtracking signal; and sending, by the first computing device and to atracking system server, the identification for the second computingdevice.
 15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable mediacomprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors ofa first computing device, cause the first computing device to performoperations comprising: receiving, by a first computing device and from asecond computing device, a tracking signal; sending, by the firstcomputing device and to a tracking system server, a notification thatthe first computing device has received the tracking signal from thesecond computing device; receiving, by the first computing device andfrom the tracking system server, an instruction for the second computingdevice, wherein the instruction for the second computing devicecomprises an instruction relating to a feature of the second computingdevice; attempting, by the first computing device, to send theinstruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice; after determining that the first computing device is unable tosend the instruction for the second computing device to the secondcomputing device, sending, by the first computing and to the trackingsystem server, a response message indicating that the first computingdevice is unable to send the instruction for the second computing deviceto the second computing device; receiving, by the first computing deviceand from the tracking system server, a request to retransmit theinstruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice; sending, by the first computing device and to the secondcomputing device, the instruction for the second computing device;receiving, by the first computing device and from the second computingdevice, acknowledgement of the instruction for the second computingdevice; and sending, by the first computing device and to the trackingsystem server, a response message indicating that the second computingdevice has acknowledged the instruction for the second computing device;wherein determining that the first computing device is unable to sendthe instruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice comprises waiting a predetermined period of time foracknowledgement of the instruction for the second computing device. 16.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15,wherein determining that the first computing device is unable to sendthe instruction for the second computing device to the second computingdevice comprises completing a threshold number of attempts to send, tothe second computing device, the instruction for the second computingdevice.
 17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media ofclaim 15, wherein the acknowledgement of the instruction for the secondcomputing device comprises confirmation that the second computing devicehas performed the instruction for the second computing device.